Major General Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. AP
The state-run WAM news agency announced the appointment of Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as crown prince late Wednesday, without providing further details.
Sheikh Khaled was born on January 8, 1982 in Abu Dhabi. He graduated from the American University of Sharjah (BSc, International Relations) and from King’s College London with a PhD from the Department of War Studies in 2014.
He was appointed chairman of the country's intelligence agency in 2016.
A separate announcement said Sheikh Mohammed had appointed his brother Sheikh Mansour as vice president of the UAE with the approval of the Federal Supreme Council.
He also appointed his another two brothers Hazza bin Zayed and Tahnoun bin Zayed as Deputy Ruler of Abu Dhabi.
The federation of seven emirates, including oil-rich Abu Dhabi, has rapidly transformed itself over the past half-century from a desert region sparsely populated by Bedouin tribes into a political and economic powerhouse with state-of-the-art infrastructure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the first president of the UAE and the driving force behind its creation, ruled from 1971 until his death in 2004. He appointed his eldest son Khalifa as his successor and bin Zayed as deputy crown prince.
Sheikh Mohammed has been the nation’s de facto leader since Sheikh Khalifa suffered a stroke in 2014. Sheikh Khalifa, for whom the world's largest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa, is named, died eight years later, in May 2022.
Short link: