Hamad bin Khalifa

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Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani
Emirs of Qatar

Hamad bin Khalifa with George W. Bush
Reign	1995 - present
Born	1950
	Doha, Qatar
Predecessor	Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani
Heir-Apparent	Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani
Consort	Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned
Royal House	Al-Thani dynasty
Father	Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (Arabic: الشيخ حمد بن خليفة آل ثاني) (born in 1950 in Doha, Qatar) is the current Emir of Qatar. He belongs to the Al-Thani family.

He graduated in 1971 from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the United Kingdom. While his father, Emir Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani was staying in Geneva, Switzerland, he overthrew him in a bloodless coup in 1995 and started modernizing the country.

He is best known in the West for providing a home to and funding the popular Al Jazeera television news network. Because of this, Hamad has often been criticized by the United States government for allegedly "taking sides" in the war in Iraq and the Palestinian intifada. However, Sheikh Hamad is the staunchest ally of the United States in the Middle East and Qatar is home to campuses of American universities in the Middle East in a path-breaking project of the Qatar Foundation called Education City run by the Emir's second wife Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned. The Heir Apparent is Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, his fourth son. In total the Emir has 3 wives, 9 sons, and 6 daughters.

Hugo Chávez attends the Arab-South America Summit held on May 5, 2005 in Brasília, Brazil. He is flanked by Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa and Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati (Agência Brasil).