Every football fan¡¯s eyes are on the middle Eastern country of Qatar, which is currently hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022.
The country spent a mammoth $300 billion on infrastructure and?stadiums?in the past 12 years to prepare for its World Cup hosting dream, which is the most expensive of its kind ever, according to Bloomberg.
But in the midst of World Cup fever, the Qatari royal family hasn't been doing so well. It demanded a total ban on the sale of alcohol at World Cup stadiums just hours before the tournament began, and the preparations before the event also prompted plenty of scrutiny due to human rights abuses.??
Headed by Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatar is known as one of the wealthiest surviving dynasties in the world. With about 8,000 members, the family has a total net worth of about $335 billion from multiple cash flows besides rich natural resources, including investments in properties like London¡¯s Shard skyscraper, Olympic Village, Harrods department store, and New York¡¯s Empire State Building, and stakes in Barclays Bank, British Airways, and automobile company Volkswagen, as per the South China Morning Post report.
Well, they live in the?Doha Royal Palace, which is covered in gold and consists of 15 different palaces and a car park for over 500 cars, costing about US$1 billion to build, Traveler¡¯s Top estimates.
In 2019, another white palace in Oman was built by the Emir using similar materials to the Doha Royal Palace.
According to British media, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, one of the former Emir's three wives, purchased three houses in Cornwall Terrace in Regent's Park, London, for approximately $140 million in 2013. The plan is to turn them all into a super mansion with 17 bedrooms, 14 lounges, a cinema, a juice bar, and a swimming pool, according to the BBC.?
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When the royals aren¡¯t at home in Qatar, they are probably lounging in the sun on one of their "floating palaces," i.e., i,e their mega?yachts.?The Emir reportedly owns?The Katara, one of the world¡¯s most expensive and largest?mega-yachts.
It is 124 metres long, has a helicopter pad, and several decks that can accommodate up to 35 guests and 90 crew members, according to British media, according to the report.??
The Qatar royal family are masters of the sky too. In 1977, it founded an exclusive airline, Qatar Amiri Flight, which serves only royal family members and high-ranked government staff of the country. According to Plane Spotters, the airline currently has 14 aircrafts, including three jumbo Boeing 747-8, the brand¡¯s most expensive commercial jet that costs over US$400 million each.
Others are various models of Airbus, including an Airbus A340-300 valued between $350 million and $500 million, while the rest range between $100 million and $300 million, via Simple Flying, as per the report.
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Another luxury that the Qatar royal family enjoys is their huge fleet on the road. Its royal members have been seen with fancy models from the priciest car brands. Among them, as per the report, the?Emir has a collection with several?Bugattis?like Divo, Veyron and Chiron; a LaFerrari Aperta and coupe red; a?Lamborghini?Centenario white coupe and Centenario Roadster; a?Mercedes?AMG 6x6; and a?Rolls-Royce?Phantom, as per Select Car Leasing and Qatar Just.
The Qatari royal family seems to love sports as well. It has hosted many international championships, such as the 2006 Asian Games, the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championship, and now the 2022 Fifa World Cup, as per the report.
The Emir also founded Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) in 2004 and eventually became the owner of Paris Saint-Germain in 2011, per the BBC. In October, the family also bought a 21.7% stake in SC Braga, one of the leading football clubs in Portugal, per QSI¡¯s site.
Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al-Thani bought Spanish club M¨¢laga in 2010, while Khalid Faleh al Thani is reportedly ready to splash on Italy¡¯s Serie A Sampdoria, as per Football Italia.
Art is the royal family¡¯s other passion.?They have spent?billions of dollars on thousands of paintings and collectibles?over the years, as per Insider. Some of them cost tens of millions of dollars, such as Mark Rothko¡¯s painting White Center at $72.8 million, or Andy Warhol¡¯s Men in Her Life at $63.4 million, via Artnet News, as per the report.
In 2011, it reportedly bought C¨¦zanne¡¯s The Card Players for US$250 million, making it the world¡¯s most expensive painting sold at that time, per The Art Wolf. Today, it is still the third most expensive painting after Willem de Kooning¡¯s Interchange, which was sold for US$300 million in 2015, and Leonardo da Vinci¡¯s Salvator Mundi, which cost US$450 million in 2017.
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