One of the last remaining absolute monarchs, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah (born 1946) has used enormous income from vast reserves of oil and natural gas to make his tiny sultanate one of the world's most economically prosperous and socially secure societies. As one of the world's wealthiest individuals, his own lifestyle has become famous for its extravagance and record-setting excesses.

The sultan of Brunei, whose official title is Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, first came to worldwide attention in the 1980s when the financial press revealed that this ruler of a traditional Islamic monarchy on the northwest coast of Borneo controlled a fortune in excess of $25 billion. For a time, he was regarded as the world's richest man, but in the late 1990s he may have lost that title to an American businessman. The sultan's current holdings, which officially belong to the country, are believed to be at least $40 billion...