Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Sheikh Khalifa) was the President of the United Arab Emirates, the Emir of Abu Dhabi, and the supreme commander of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces from 2004 to 2022.
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Sheikh Khalifa was also the Chairman of the Supreme Petroleum Council from the late 1980s.
As the crown prince, Khalifa carried out some aspects of the presidency in a de facto capacity from the late 1990s when his father Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan faced health problems.
Sheikh Khalifa succeeded his father as the emir of Abu Dhabi on 2 November 2004 and the presidency of the United Arab Emirates the following day.
During his reign, Sheikh Khalifa was deemed one of the richest monarchs in the world.
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Sheikh Khalifa controlled 97.8 billion barrels of oil reserves and was chairman of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which manages $875 billion in assets, the largest amount managed by a nation’s head of state in the world.
Sadly, Sheikh Khalifa died in May 2022 at the age of 73.
Though a specific cause of death was not given, State Media said that Sheikh Khalifa died after “after battling illness for several years.”
In 2014, Sheikh Khalifa suffered stroke after which his role as leader became largely ceremonial as he withdrew from the public but continued to issue rulings.


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