The Qatar royal family is one of the wealthiest in the world, with an estimated fortune of about $350 billion. The emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, heads the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), which manages assets worth roughly $600 billion. Qatar also has massive natural-gas reserves, global investments, and more. But more than everything money can buy, they also have what money cannot buy, respect, decorum, and a stately savoir faire.
It is easy to use these words for the 46-year-old royal without knowing him at all, because greatness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. A small instance revolving around two superyachts from the magnificent Qatari fleet gives an immense idea of the kind of man the emir, who holds the most powerful position in the country and controls all branches of state power, actually is. The Sandhurst graduate owns Al Lusail, a 404-foot glass palace built by Lürssen and delivered in 2017. His father, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Father Emir, owns the 408-foot Katara, built in 2010.
Yes, both are extravagant Lurssen megayachts, both boast a price tag of well over $400 million, and each are believed to cost around $50 million a year to run. Still, there is one thing that clearly makes the more expensive Al Lusail different from the Katara yacht, its length. Al Lusail was reportedly made 1 meter, or about 3 feet, shorter as a sign of respect. To not overshadow the pleasure craft of the man who brought him into this world, the pragmatic and influential leader ensured his yacht remained shorter in length.
It is embedded in Qatari culture to honor one’s parents, and the Emir seems to follow this as a principle not just in life in general, but down to the detail of his superyacht’s length. That speaks volumes about the man, and about the parents who shaped him. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who ruled Qatar from 1995, also went out of his way for his son and voluntarily abdicated in 2013 in favor of Sheikh Tamim, which is extremely unusual in the Gulf. The love and respect between the two is mutual and legendary, just like two nearly identical megayachts, one just a touch larger and older.
Al Lusail, a one-meter-shorter mark of respect-
They travel in private Boeing 747 jets and make decisions that affect nations and the millions who live in them. Yet one such heartwarming detail makes these larger-than-life personas seem a tad more human. The context is still larger than life, of course, with superyachts amounting to almost $1 billion between them, but the very thought of respect is what counts, especially because of the money involved.
Al Lusail can accommodate 36 people in 18 cabins, with private elevators, but that is not even the most impressive part of this nearly 8,500 GT ship. Longer than two Olympic-sized swimming pools, the yacht looks breathtaking thanks to its sculpted exterior by H2 Yacht Design, with a refined interior envisioned by March & White.
The magic of the mighty Al Lusail remains sealed within, yet plenty of sources mention that it is a haven of marble, gold, and teak. Luxurious amenities are said to include several pools, a beach club, a beauty salon, a cinema, a fully equipped spa and gym, and a helipad for the royal family to exit as swiftly as they entered.
Katara, the Father Emir’s floating legacy-
408 feet of splendor make up the Lürssen mammoth Katara yacht, built in 2010 for the Qatari royal family. At around $400 million, the ship features a helicopter deck, an array of satellite communication domes, a beach club, a swimming pool, a gym and spa, an on-deck hot tub, and a main saloon that towers over two decks. The 7,922 GT boat is smaller in volume than Al Lusail yet slightly longer in overall length, and that is why it is regarded as a very significant mark of respect. She sleeps up to 34 guests in fourteen cabins, serviced by an army of 95 crew members on board.
The towering personality of the Emir, the fortune he holds, the nation he drives, and still aboard Al Lusail he is grounded enough in humility to bow before the man who came before him, a trait that makes a man bigger than the money in his bank.
