| Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa حمد بن عيسى آل خليفة |
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| Reign | 6 March 1999 – present |
| Coronation | 14 February 2002 |
| Predecessor | Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa |
| Heir apparent | Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa |
| Prime Ministers | Khalifa ibn Salman Al Khalifa |
| Spouse | Sabika bint Ibrahim (1968–present) Sheia bint Hassan Al-Khrayyesh Al-Ajmi 2 others |
| Issue | |
| Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa Abdullah Bin Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Khalifa bin Hamad Al Khalifa Najla bint Hamad Al Khalifa Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa Faisal ibn Hamad Al Khalifa Sultan bin Hamad Al Khalifa Hessa bint Hamad Al Khalifa Nura bint Hamad Al Khalifa Munira bint Hamad Al Khalifa Reema bint Hamad Al Khalifa |
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| House | Al-Khalifa |
| Father | Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa |
| Mother | Hessa bint Salman Al Khalifa |
| Born | 28 January 1950 [1] Riffa, British Bahrain , |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa (Arabic: حمد بن عيسى آل خليفة; born 28 January 1950, Riffa, Bahrain) is the King of Bahrain (since 14 February 2002), having previously been its Emir (from 6 March 1999).[2] He is the son of Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the previous Emir.
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Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa was born on 28 January 1950 in Riffa, Bahrain. His parents were Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa who in 1950 was the Crown Prince and Hessa bint Salman Al Khalifa. After attending Manama Secondary School in Bahrain, Hamad was sent to England to complete the remainder of his education. He attended Applegarth College in Godalming, Surrey before taking a place at The Leys School in Cambridge. Hamad then underwent military training, first with the British Army at Mons Officer Cadet School at Aldershot in Hampshire, graduating in September 1968.[1] Four years later in June 1972 Hamad attended the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, graduating the following June with a degree in leadership.[3][4]
On the death of his father Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Hamad became Emir of Bahrain on 6 March 1999.[2] As Emir, Hamad brought several political reforms to Bahrain. These included the release of all political prisoners, the dissolution of the State Security Court and the abolition of the 1974 Decree on State Security Measures. Additionally, many Bahraini citizens were permitted to return after several years in exile overseas.[5] In 2002 he declared himself king.
King Hamad was designated as heir apparent by his father on 27 June 1964. In 1968 King Hamad was appointed as the Chairman of the Irrigation Council and Manama Municipal Council. He was commissioned into the Bahrain National Guard on 16 February 1968 and appointed as its commander the same year, remaining in that post until 1969 when he was appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of the Bahrain Defence Force. In 1970 King Hamad became the head of the Bahraini Department of Defence and the Vice-Chairman of the Administrative Council, remaining in both offices until 1971. From 1971 to 1988 he was the Minister of State for Defence.[4]
In October 1977, King Hamad started learning to fly helicopters, successfully completing the training in January 1978. He then worked to establish the Bahrain Amiri Air Force[3] which came into being in 1987 when the Defence Force air wing was reconstituted as an air force.
On 14 February 2011, the tenth anniversary of a referendum in favour of the National Action Charter, Bahrain was rocked by massive protests inspired by the Arab spring and coordinated by a Facebook page named "Day of Rage in Bahrain", a page that was liked by more than 90,000 people just one week after its creation. The Bahrain government responded with what has been described as a "brutal" crackdown[6][7][8] on the protest, including shocking violations of human rights that caused massive anger. Later on, demonstrators demanded that Hamad step down.[9]
King Hamad was invited to the royal wedding of Prince William of Wales and Kate Middleton. He declined amidst protests by human rights activists who had pledged to disrupt his stay in Britain because of his violent response to demonstrators.[10] Earlier in 2005, he was the only sovereign head of state to attend the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Camilla Parker Bowles.
According to wikileaks, Bahrain's King Hamad boasted of his ties with Israel's intelligence services and told his government to stop referring to the Jewish state as the "Zionist enemy," a leaked US cable from 2005 showed.
The cable, which was given exclusively to Israel's Haaretz newspaper by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, was written after talks between the king and Washington's ambassador to Bahrain, William Monroe, in February of that year.
"He revealed that Bahrain already has contacts with Israel at the intelligence/security level (i.e. with Mossad) and indicated that Bahrain will be willing to move forward in other areas," Monroe wrote, referring to Israel's spy agency.
The cable also indicated King Hamad had ordered his public information minister to stop referring to Israel as the "Zionist entity" or "enemy" in official statements, Haaretz quoted the cable as saying.
But the king reportedly baulked at the idea of establishing trade ties with Israel, saying it would have to wait until the establishment of a Palestinian state, it said.
The cable was leaked as the Gulf kingdom struggles with a wave of protests led by the Shiite majority against the ruling Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty.
Israel and Bahrain do not have diplomatic relations, and two years ago, MPs in Manama tried to push through a law outlawing any contact with the Jewish state, which would have seen offenders slapped with a $27,000 fine and up to seven years in jail.[11]
The Foreign Policy, a bimonthly American magazine classified Hamad as one of the bad guys the U.S. still supports, due to the massive crackdown on mainly Shiite protesters during the Arab Spring in Bahrain. He was put in number 3 out of 8.[12]
King Hamad has four wives and in total twelve children, seven sons and five daughters:
| Monarchical styles of The King of Bahrain |
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| Reference style | His Majesty |
| Spoken style | Your Majesty |
| Alternative style | Sheikh |
Hamad has received numerous honours, for example:
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Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa
Born: 28 January 1950 |
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| Regnal titles | ||
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| Preceded by Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa |
Emir of Bahrain 1999–2002 |
Succeeded by Himself as King of Bahrain |
| Preceded by Himself as Emir of Bahrain |
King of Bahrain 2002–present |
Incumbent Heir apparent: Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa |