His main residence, the Istana Nurul Iman, holds the Guinness World Record as the largest residential palace in the world, spanning 200,000 square meters.
Completed in 1984 at a total cost of $1.4 billion, it boasts 1,788 rooms, 257 bathrooms, a banquet hall for 5,000 guests, a mosque, a garage for 110 cars, an air-conditioned stable for 200 polo ponies, and five swimming pools.
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Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei. Photo from Brunei Royal Family’s Instagram/@bruneiroyalfamily |
His vast wealth, which largely stems from Brunei’s oil and gas reserves, can also be seen through his collection of cars and aircraft.
His car fleet, whose estimated worth exceeds $5 billion, comprises more than 7,000 vehicles, including 600 Rolls-Royces, 450 Ferraris, and 380 Bentleys, according to The Economic Times.
Of these, several are rare models, such as the Ferrari 456 GT Venice, one of only seven ever made. He owns a gold-plated Rolls-Royce valued at $14 million, according to the Guinness World Records, which ranks it as the most valuable gold-plated car in the world.
His private aircraft collection includes a gold-plated Boeing 747-400, reportedly valued at around $400 million, along with other Boeing jets and helicopters, like the Sikorsky S70 and S76.
He is also interested in art, purchasing French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s 1892 oil painting Young Girls at the Piano for $70 million, according to Business Insider.
He reportedly spent $20,000 per haircut by flying his preferred barber from London to Brunei for each session.
He also has a private zoo featuring Bengal tigers and an array of rare birds, including falcons, flamingos, and cockatoos.
The Sultan and his brother, Prince Jefri, were known for hosting multi-million-dollar parties in the 1980s and 1990s. They own high-end hotels in London, Paris, and New York, as well as a massive yacht and other luxury vessels.
Though he is now famous for his extravagant spending, Bolkiah used to be more low-profile in his teenage years.
Born in 1946 as one of ten children of Brunei’s former Sultan, Omar Ali Saifuddien III, he received his early education in Brunei before attending The Victoria Institution in Malaysia for secondary school, according to his profile on the website of the Brunei Prime Minister’s Office.
He trained at the UK’s Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst between 1966 and 1967, and is a certified pilot who can fly both airplanes and helicopters.
He was named crown prince in 1961, ascended the throne in 1967, and was officially crowned the 29th Sultan of Brunei in 1968. He also serves as the country’s prime minister and minister of defense, finance and economy, and foreign affairs.
Following the passing of the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, he became the longest-reigning monarch alive.
The sultan’s personal life has also drawn public attention, particularly his feud with his brother. Tensions arose between the two due to Prince Jefri’s exorbitant spending and accusations that he maintained a paid coterie of roughly 40 women.
The Brunei government, representing the sultan, accused Jefri of misappropriating approximately $40 billion in state funds, sparking one of Asia’s most notorious royal scandals, according to The Independent.
Sultan Bolkiah has been married three times, with his first wife, Pengiran Anak Saleha, also being his cousin, as reported by India Today.
Since polygamy is permitted in Brunei, Saleha continues to serve as the Queen Consort, even though the Sultan married and later divorced two other women—a flight attendant and a television presenter.
The younger generation of Brunei’s royal family, including the Sultan’s 12 children, continues to embrace a lavish lifestyle and flaunt their immense wealth.
Three of the sultan’s four sons have celebrated their weddings with opulent ceremonies held in Brunei.
The most recent one, that of Prince Abdul Mateen, took place last January. The event brought the country to a halt as the nation witnessed the union between the prince and a commoner. It lasted 10 days and saw more than 5,000 guests, including world leaders and royals from Malaysia, Jordan, and Bhutan.
“Their lifestyle is literally inconceivable for the vast majority of humanity,” said Michael Auslin of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, told CNN.
“It’s lavish, beyond belief. Take everything you can imagine in the lifestyles of the rich and famous and multiply it.”
