Qatar's former Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, has died at the age of 74, the country's Amiri Diwan reported. Al Jazeera reports.
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani was the father of the current Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and served as Emir of Qatar from 1995 to 2013, after bloodlessly deposing his father, Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, while he was abroad.
“With a heart firm in faith in God’s will and destiny, the Amiri Diwan mourns the great loss to the nation of the late – may God have mercy on him – His Highness the Father of the Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who passed away this morning,” the Amiri Diwan said in a statement.
In 2012, under his reign, Qatar, through its sovereign wealth fund, purchased the Costa Smeralda from Tom Barrack. Two years later, it was the turn of the Mater Olbia.
The grandson of the former emir, Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, recently purchased Villa Certosa in Porto Rotondo from the Berlusconi family .
(Unioneonline)