Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani

Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (Arabic): تميم بن حمد بن خليفة آل ثاني, romanized: Tamīm bin Ḥamad bin Khalīfa Āl Thānī; born 3 June 1980) has reigned as the Emir of Qatar since 25 June 2013, succeeding his father, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Born in Doha, he is the fourth son of the former Emir and his second wife, Moza bint Nasser.

Tamim became heir apparent in 2003 after his older brother Sheikh Jassim renounced his claim to the throne. As the leader of Qatar, he has worked on many important issues to help the country grow and support its people. This content might need updating to be appropriate for a younger audience. It contains factual information about a world leader but does not include any inappropriate or unsafe content. The tone and language are suitable for the Discoverer (J8) level, though it may benefit from further simplification or additional context for younger readers.

Early life and education

Tamim bin Hamad was born on 3 June 1980 in Doha, Qatar. He is the fourth son of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, and second son of Sheikha Moza bint Nasser Al-Missned. He went to school in the UK at Sherborne School and Harrow School. Later, he studied at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and graduated in 1998.

Career

Sheikh Tamim began his career by joining the Qatar Armed Forces after finishing school. In 2003, he became the heir apparent when his older brother stepped down. Since then, he has held many important positions.

Sheikh Tamim has supported sports to help Qatar become known around the world. He started a company that owns teams like Paris Saint-Germain F.C.. He helped organize big sports events in Doha, and Qatar was chosen to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He also works with groups that manage money and support education, the environment, and technology in Qatar.

Reign

On 25 June 2013, Tamim’s father, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, announced that he would step down as the Emir of Qatar. Tamim then became the Emir of Qatar after his father handed over power in a televised speech. While the previous two Qatari rulers from the Al Thani family came to power through peaceful transitions, Tamim was the first to ascend to power through abdication. The transfer of power went smoothly, as family members hold many of Qatar’s top positions.

Tamim became crown prince on 5 August 2003, after his brother Sheikh Jassim stepped down. Diplomats said that Jassim had hoped to expand his political powers. In 2003, Sheikh Jassim stepped down from the position of crown prince. According to Qatar News Agency Jassim sent a letter to his father saying, “The time is appropriate to step down and prepare for a successor”. In the letter, Jassim stated, “I did not want, as I have told you from the start, to be appointed as crown prince” and said that he had only accepted the position in October 1996 because of “sensitive circumstances”.

Tamim rules in a way where he holds all executive and legislative authority in Qatar; political parties are not allowed, and elections are not free and fair. The citizens of Qatar have limited political and civil rights.

One of Tamim’s first actions after coming to power was to merge some government groups. He also lowered the budget of some important institutions.

Since he became leader, the government has built new roads around the capital, developed the new Doha Metro system, and completed the construction of a new airport, the Hamad International Airport. During a time of change in the region, Tamim promised to work on lowering the price of food and expected increases in social support and pensions.

In his first speech on 26 June 2013, Sheikh Tamim said he would continue to grow Qatar’s economy in many ways.

In June 2013, Sheikh Tamim announced his new group of leaders. He named Hessa Al Jaber as the first ever Minister of Information and Communications Technology in Qatar in 2013. She was the third woman to be named to the group of leaders.

In 2014, Tamim passed new laws about online behavior, which were part of an agreement among some countries to stop bad words about leaders. The law also made it wrong to share news that was not true or to put out material that goes against the country’s values. This law was criticized for being used to stop people from speaking out.

In January 2016, Tamim made more changes to his group of leaders. He also merged several groups, including communication and transport, culture, youth and sports. Some people thought these changes were to save money or to make the government stronger.

During Tamim’s time as leader, there have been concerns about how workers from other countries are treated in Qatar. Some steps were taken to improve workers’ rights, but more needed to be done.

Tamim’s time as leader has been accepted by leaders around the world, who hoped he would continue his father’s work. Analysts said he would need to improve the country’s infrastructure. While some see Tamim as more focused on religious matters than his father, most expect him to keep his father’s practical way of leading – using religion when it helps, but not pushing for strict religious rules such as banning alcohol. In 2020, the Qatari government spoke out against hurting religions and against spreading hate based on beliefs, race or religion. From 2020 onward, Qatar took steps to remove hurtful or violent content from school books.

In his first speech to the nation, Tamim promised to keep Qatar’s important role in the region but said he would not “take direction” in foreign affairs. He committed to working closely with his neighbors in the Gulf.

In May 2022, Tamim met with leaders in Iran and discussed solving problems in the region, including Syria, Iraq and Yemen. He also talked about improving economic ties between Iran and Qatar.

In late October 2013, a few months after taking charge, Sheikh Tamim visited some countries in the Gulf region. He also represented his father at important meetings before becoming leader.

Qatar has given aid to groups in Tunisia, Yemen and Morocco.

Since 2011, Qatar has been active in the Middle East and North Africa, working with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to influence events in countries such as Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. Qatari support for groups that do not agree with the rulers of the Gulf caused tensions with other countries in the region.

In March 2014, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain took their ambassadors out of Qatar for nine months; diplomatic relations were restored following the November 2014 Riyadh Agreement.

On 5 June 2017, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE, and Bahrain cut off diplomatic ties to Qatar and blocked the country, saying Qatar supported groups that oppose their governments. In January 2020, following a meeting in Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia, Qatar made peace with its neighbors. In January 2021, Tamim signed an agreement to end the blockade of Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt. The countries reopened their land border and airspace to Qatar.

Qatar has invested in loans and aid to Egypt. In August 2013, Qatar joined a U.S.-led attempt to mediate the tension between different groups in Egypt. Speaking at Georgetown University during his first visit to the United States, Tamim said Qatar would not interfere in Egypt but spoke out against what happened in Egypt after a change in leadership. Since then, the new government has not accepted Qatari offers for financial aid. Qatar has denied supporting any specific group, saying it supports “the legitimate peoples and governments elected whatever the ideology of the ruling group as long as it works on the prosperity and welfare of its people.”

Some countries and regional experts have said that Qatar has supported different groups around the region. Especially since the beginning of changes in 2011, the country has provided help and warnings to groups. There have also been claims that the Qatar-based television channel Al Jazeera shared the views of these groups, but the channel says it was under pressure because “it is the most transparent, balanced and unbiased of all Arab channels”.

In November 2024, Qatar helped make an agreement among Egypt, Israel, and Hamas. This agreement, worked on with the U.S., allowed for the safe leaving of people from Gaza. In February 2024, Hamas proposed a deal with the help of Qatar and Egypt, aiming to free people held in Gaza and many Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, and to end the conflict. However, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu did not accept the proposal. The work of Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani and Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani was praised by world leaders such as US Secretary Antony Blinken, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, US President Joe Biden, and the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell.

Qatar called for military action by Arab countries to stop the violence in Syria in 2012. Analysts expected that Tamim would have pressure to reduce Qatar’s support for groups in the Syrian Civil War, which he had previously supported. Sheikh Tamim stepped back after taking charge, mainly because Western powers were unhappy with Qatar’s work to give weapons to Syrian groups which had been done without careful planning. However, Qatar has kept supporting Syrian opposition groups, with Tamim saying in a speech to the UN in September 2020 that Qatar would keep supporting efforts to achieve justice and hold responsible those who did bad things, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in Syria. In 2015, with Saudi Arabia and Turkey, Qatar gave new weapons to Syrian rebels and created a new group known as the “Army of Conquest”. Tamim also renewed his country’s support for the Syrian people’s demands for justice and freedom during a meeting with the leader of the Syrian National Coalition Khaled Khoja and his group in April 2015.

The Syrian group Al-Rahman Legion was supported by Qatar in 2018. Since 2017, Qatari-backed Al-Rahman Legion has been fighting Saudi Arabian-backed Jaysh al-Islam rebel group.

On 7 May 2023, Sheikh Tamim left an Arab League meeting before Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s planned speech. In September 2022, in an interview with the French news outlet Le Point, he talked about the reasons Syria was suspended from the Arab League in 2011, which are still important because of the long conflict in the country and the big number of people leaving their homes. According to reports, the Assad regime has been accused of serious human rights violations such as using bad ways to hurt people and attacking civilians.

Qatar and Western countries, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations, have spoken out against Bashar al-Assad’s return to the Arab League. Their concerns are mainly about protecting the safety and security of Syrian refugees across the Middle East. On 30 January 2025, Sheikh Tamim became the first head of state to visit Damascus since the fall of the Assad regime, discussing post-conflict rebuilding in Syria and other topics.

In January 2019, a report showed that a group working for the United Arab Emirates had tried to get into the phones of activists, diplomats and foreign leaders, including Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The tool used, named ‘K4RM4’, let the UAE watch hundreds of people they thought were threats to the Emirati government and its beliefs. The group, known as ‘Project Raven’, was based in Abu Dhabi and made up of local security workers and former US intelligence workers working for the UAE’s intelligence services.

In November 2024, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said Qatar supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, wanting an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. His statement, given during the United Nations’ “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” event in Vienna, talked about the need for international agreements and the Arab Peace Initiative.

On 13 October 2022, Tamim met with Russian president Vladimir Putin in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana. At the time, Putin was not liked because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Tamim said he was “proud” of the relationship between Qatar and Russia. Qatar helped in talks between Russia and Ukraine.

Tamim signed a military cooperation agreement with Turkey during an official visit to the country in December 2014. The agreement wants to help with military training and the defense industry, and lets the Turkish Armed Forces go to Qatar and the Qatari military go to Turkey.

On 2 December 2015, Tamim signed several agreements with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. They signed deals in education, sea transport and between intelligence groups. Turkey also agreed to buy liquefied natural gas from Qatar for a long time. The two leaders also talked about making a Turkish military base in Qatar; the first for Turkey in the Persian Gulf.

In August 2018, Qatar said it would put in $15 billion to help Turkey during a time of trouble with the US. The help was announced after Tamim met Erdoğan in Ankara, on 15 August 2018.

On 6 December 2021, Tamim welcome Erdoğan for a visit in Doha. During the two-day visit, they signed 15 agreements about culture, economy, defense and security. They also signed several memorandums of understanding between the countries’ groups. Tamim and Erdoğan also agreed to continue the $15 billion currency swap agreement between Qatar and Turkey.

On 4 December 2023, Erdoğan and Tamim chaired the 9th meeting of the Turkey-Qatar Supreme Strategic Committee; and signed 12 cooperation agreements in different areas.

Tamim met UK prime minister David Cameron and Queen Elizabeth II in October 2014 on his first official visit to the UK. Qatar and the UK talked about meeting to talk about shared investments. Up to and during this meeting The Telegraph newspaper asked Cameron to talk about Qatar’s support for groups that might do bad things with Tamim. The Conservative MP, Stephen Barclay, often asked for clear information in Britain’s work with Qatar and said it was “essential” for Cameron to talk about helping Sunni groups in Syria and Iraq.

In July 2018, Tamim and UK prime minister Theresa May signed a letter of intent between the governments of Qatar and the United Kingdom. Both agreed to share information and work together on stopping bad activities related to terrorism and security of travel, including airports and airplanes, and to stop financial crime.

Sheikh Tamim and Sheikha Jawaher bint Hamad Al Thani attended the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on 19 September 2022, and the coronation of King Charles III on 6 May 2023, both held in Westminster Abbey, London.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla hosted Tamim at Buckingham Palace for a state visit on 3 and 4 December 2024. This followed their most recent meeting at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai in December 2023.

Tamim met French president François Hollande twice in 2014 and 2015. In the second meeting, they signed an agreement to sell Rafale jets to Qatar.

Tamim met French president Emmanuel Macron twice in 2017. In the second meeting, they signed business deals worth more than US$14 billion. During their 2018 meeting, Tamim thanked Macron for his support for Qatar in the Gulf crisis. They met again in 2021. In 2024, Macron and Tamim signed a €10 billion agreement on putting money into the French economy.

In May 2022, during his first visit to Europe after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Tamim signed energy and investment projects with several countries, including Spain and Germany, and for the first time spoke at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos.

In March 2024, Qatar helped in talks between Russia and Ukraine to bring children back to their families who were separated during the conflict. Russia gave six children back to Ukraine with the help of Qatari helpers in May 2024. In June, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Qatar and met with Tamim. Zelenskyy said thank you for Qatar’s help in bringing children back. Zelenskyy also talked about the importance of Qatar’s support for Ukraine’s Peace Formula, which was held on 15 and 16 June.

In July 2014, Tamim renewed the defense agreement with the U.S. and confirmed Qatar’s work with the U.S. in the Combined Air Operations Center at Al Udeid Air Base.

After visiting U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House in February 2015, Tamim wrote saying the U.S.–Qatari "strategic partnership has grown deeper in recent years, even with problems in the area" and said he would keep supporting a bigger way to deal with problems in the Middle East.

Sheikh Tamim was a personal friend of U.S. President Donald Trump before he became president. He visited the United States many times during Trump's time as president and had meetings at the White House in Washington, D.C.

Tamim helped in talks with leaders of the Taliban, starting when his father was leader. The United States asked for a Taliban office in Doha. In June 2013, the Taliban opened their first office outside of Afghanistan as part of trying to make a long-term peace deal for Afghanistan. In June 2015, Qatar helped free four Tajikistan soldiers who were taken in December 2014 in Afghanistan by a Taliban group.

In July 2017, the US and Qatar signed an agreement to work together to stop the financing of terrorism. In the same year, U.S. secretary of state Rex Tillerson said that “The emir of Qatar has made progress in stopping support for bad financial help and sending away people who do bad things from his country”.

In July 2019, Sheikh Tamim visited the U.S. to meet President Donald Trump, who went to a dinner with him hosted by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and joined by Robert Kraft, Christine Lagarde, and others.

On an August 2021 phone call, U.S. President Joe Biden thanked Tamim for Qatar’s help with the US evacuations from Afghanistan, which Biden said would not have been possible without Qatar’s early help. Sheikh Tamim visited Biden at the White House on a visit to Washington, D.C., on 31 January 2022. He was the first leader from the Gulf Cooperation Council to visit the White House since Biden became president. They talked about relations between the two countries, the safety of global energy supplies, the situation in Afghanistan, and peace in the Middle East. Biden called Qatar a “good friend and reliable and capable partner”, and said Qatar would be named a major non-NATO ally.

Qatar hosted the important signing of a peace deal between the US and the Taliban in February 2020 which said that US troops would fully leave Afghanistan. Starting in September 2020, Qatar has hosted peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban to end years of war in the country.

Qatar helped in a deal between the United States and Iran, which let five prisoners from each country go free and let US$6 billion of Iranian money that was frozen due to sanctions by the United States be released in September 2023. U.S. President Biden thanked Tamim and Qatari officials for their help in making this happen as well as setting up a “Humanitarian channel” for Iran.

In 1996, Qatar started trade with the State of Israel, the first of all countries in the Arabian Peninsula and has kept its "working relationship" with Israel. Qatar stopped trade ties with Israel in 2009, after the first of four wars between Israel and Hamas in Gaza (Gaza War (2008–2009), 2012 Gaza War, 2014 Gaza War, 2021 Gaza War). In 2021, Qatar did not join a diplomatic deal with Israel made by the United States, the country only kept "working relationship" to help Palestinians. It said it would make diplomatic ties when Israel agrees to the Arab Peace Initiative. In May 2021, it was said that Qatar had given over $3 billion in help to Gaza and the West Bank with Israel’s approval over 10 years. In 2022, Israeli military leaders went in secret to Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base, the main base for all US forces in the West Asia, also known as CENTCOM as part of a security change.

The Gaza war caused trouble for many parts of the world – even countries in the Arab world that had good links with Israel and were moving toward being closer with Israel, such as Qatar. Tamim said his country, where Hamas had a representative for years, blames the Israeli government only for the lack of success in talks about hostages and stopping the fighting and said the Israeli government was not a partner for peace: “We are currently not experiencing a peace process, but a genocide.”

Personal characteristics and views

Sheikh Tamim is known as a friendly, confident, and open person. He is also seen as careful, thoughtful, and traditional in his views. People who know him describe him as practical and good at building relationships, especially with countries like the United States and France.

Some experts thought he would be more cautious and traditional than his father. Because Sheikh Tamim has strong ties with groups focused on Islamic values, protecting Qatar’s cultural identity has been very important to him.

A popular drawing of him called Tamim al-Majd (Tamim the Glorious), made by an artist named Ahmed al-Maadheed, became a symbol of pride in Qatar during a difficult time in 2017.

Personal life

Sheikh Tamim has been married to three women and has thirteen children. His first wife is Sheikha Jawaher bint Hamad Al Thani, and they were married in 2005. They have four children. His second wife is Sheikha Al-Anoud bint Mana Al Hajri, daughter of a former Qatari Ambassador to Jordan, and they were married in 2009. They have five children. His third wife is Sheikha Noora bint Hathal Al Dosari, and they were married in 2014. They have four children.

Sheikh Tamim enjoys playing sports like badminton and bowling. He also loves learning about history and his country's traditions. He can speak Arabic, English, and French very well.

Succession

The rules for who can become the leader of Qatar were set down in 2005. Only members of the family of Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani can be leaders, and the choice is made within the House of Al Thani.

In 2014, Emir Tamim chose his younger half-brother Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani to be the Deputy Emir, meaning he is next in line to lead Qatar. In the future, Emir Tamim will likely choose one of his own sons to be the next crown prince.

Honours

Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has received many important awards and honors from Qatar and other countries.

In Qatar, he became the Grand Master of the Order of Independence and the Order of Merit in 2013.

He has also been honored by many foreign nations. Some of these include:

• Order of Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa from Bahrain
• Order of the Southern Cross from Brazil
• National Order of Chad from Chad
• Grand Order of King Tomislav from Croatia
• National Order of Merit from Ecuador
• Order of the Legion of Honour from France
• Order of Merit of the Italian Republic from Italy
• Order of Al-Hussein bin Ali from Jordan
• Order of Mubarak the Great from Kuwait
• Order of Oman from Oman
• Nishan-e-Pakistan from Pakistan
• Order of the Sun of Peru from Peru
• Order of the White Eagle from Poland
• Order of Nila Utama from Singapore
• Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic from Spain
• Collar of Honour from Sudan
• Order of the Republic from Tunisia
• Order of Zayed from the United Arab Emirates
• Most Honourable Order of the Bath from the United Kingdom

He also received special awards such as:

• "Best Sports Personality in the Arab World" from Al-Ahram Newspaper in 2006
• "OCA Award of Merit" from the Olympic Council of Asia in 2007