It remains to be seen whether the celebrations for his 80th birthday will surpass or at least equal the splendor and extravagance of the celebrations that marked his half-century in 1996. Back then, the festivities lasted for two weeks, featuring not only official receptions, grand processions, and military parades but also spectacular events such as a Michael Jackson concert - for which the king of pop pocketed around 20 million euros - or a polo tournament in which even Prince Charles of England participated.
Perhaps the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, who on July 15th blows out 80 candles, may prefer something more discreet this time. Or not. After all, the ruler of Brunei - on the throne since 1967 and now the longest-reigning monarch in the world after 58 years - is an absolute, all-powerful sovereign, whose will is law. Authorities are meticulously preparing a grand parade to honor him, and the 470,000 inhabitants of the small but extremely wealthy sultanate are already enjoying historic days that attract international attention.
Hassanal Bolkiah is the 29th Sultan of this nation on the island of Borneo, whose coastline overlooks the highly contested South China Sea where several countries are wary of Beijing's territorial ambitions. He leads a dynasty that took the reins of Brunei in the 14th century. However, like many other countries, especially in Asia, the landscape changed completely with the discovery of vast oil and gas reserves, which for decades have been the lifeblood of a rentier state where citizens enjoy a very high level of welfare and total free services in exchange for enduring a dictatorial regime with no elected Parliament or opposition parties, lacking basic freedoms and rights, and under the iron-fisted institutional control of the ruling elite.
In fact, Hassanal Bolkiah has continued to consolidate power for himself and his inner circle since Brunei gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1984 - until then, it had been a British protectorate - turning the sultanate into a personalistic country where the cult of the sovereign borders on caricature, with public displays of loyalty sometimes reminiscent of those seen in Kim's North Korea.
The only thing that could somewhat dampen the celebration of this special jubilee for the Sultan are the marks left by the inexorable passage of time. Lately, Hassanal Bolkiah has made headlines for health issues, such as being hospitalized in Malaysia in the spring of 2025 when he experienced fatigue during the ASEAN leaders' summit. His close circle attributed it to exhaustion due to his hyperactivity, as the monarch served as Prime Minister and held key positions in Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Finance.
Hassanal Bolkiah is realizing that, at his age, all of this is too much for his body, as evidenced by the significant Cabinet reshuffle he initiated in June, with notable appointments such as his son Abdul Mateen - often considered the sexiest prince on the planet - being appointed as the new Foreign Minister. This appointment, besides delegating responsibilities, undoubtedly aims to project a friendlier image of Brunei to the world. Over the past decade, the sultanate has faced boycott campaigns and negative press due to decrees by the Sultan, such as the 2019 Penal Code reform that harshly penalized homosexual relationships. Thanks to international pressure, the moratorium on capital punishment continues, but any day the homophobic sovereign could lose control and start executing those who dare to love someone of the same sex. This is the tyranny of our protagonist.
Hassanal Bolkiah has been married three times and has been father to 12 children. He divorced his second and third wives. Today, he remains married only to the first, Queen Saleha, a cousin with whom the sovereign tied the knot in 1965 when he was still a prince. The consort is the mother of six children, including the current Crown Prince, Al-Muhtadee Billah (52). He is much less known and lacks the charisma of his half-brother Abdul Mateen - born from the Sultan's second marriage - who has always been seen by regional media as the monarch's favorite. By the way, he is a regular visitor to Sotogrande (Cadiz) in the summer, where he indulges in his great passion for polo.
The Sultan of Brunei rules with an iron fist and reintroduced Sharia law in his domain, but everything around him is extravagant. Like the fact that in the 80s, he ordered the construction of the Istana Nurul Iman, the largest royal palace in the world, in a magnificent complex of 200,000 square meters, featuring 1,788 rooms, 257 bathrooms, a gigantic banquet hall for up to 5,000 guests, and a spacious mosque for 1,500 worshipers, to name a few details of absolute extravagance. And he will surely treat himself to some grand gesture to mark the new decade.