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Prince Abdul Mateen of Brunei is the 10th child of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, one of the world’s richest royals. But how much exactly is the net worth of Prince Abdul Mateen?
The Brunei prince is among Asia’s most eligible bachelors. However, he will shed that tag when he marries Dayang Anisha Rosnah Adam, the granddaughter of one of the Sultan of Brunei’s special advisors, Pehin Dato Isa.
The royal Brunei wedding will be a 10-day event, which will begin on 7 January 2024. The marriage will be solemnised on 11 January, followed by a procession through the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. It will conclude on 16 January after a banquet dinner.
On 1 January, Prince Mateen shared a picture with his 2.4 million followers on Instagram, showing a beaming Anisha Rosnah next to the dapper royal.
Prince Mateen is fifth in line to the throne. As the son of the Sultan, Prince Abdul Mateen has been undertaking important royal duties on behalf of his father for some time and is expected to continue to fulfil the responsibilities.
He is also a serving officer in the Royal Brunei Air Force and an accomplished polo player, the latter of which is one of the reasons behind his immense popularity among the masses both in Brunei and across Southeast Asia.
All about Prince Abdul Mateen, his life as a royal and his net worth
Early life and education
Prince Pengiran Muda ‘Abdul Mateen Bolkiah was born on 10 August 1991 as the fourth son of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. His mother is the Sultan’s second wife, Puan Hajah Mariam binti Haji Abdul Aziz, whom the monarch divorced in 2003.
The prince completed his schooling in Brunei, first studying at St. Andrew’s School in the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, followed by higher education at Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan Science College and Jerudong International School.
In 2014, Prince Abdul Mateen graduated from King’s College London with a Bachelor of Arts degree in international politics. Two years later, he completed his Master of Arts in International Studies and Diplomacy at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Prince Abdul Mateen is a helicopter pilot
The prince began his military training as an officer cadet at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in England in 2010, graduating a year later as Second Lieutenant.
He was promoted to Substantive Lieutenant in 2012 and Acting Captain in 2016. The Sultan promoted Prince Mateen to Substantive Captain (Udara) in 2017.
His promotion to Substantive Captain (Udara) came around a month after he completed a seven-month Elementary Flying Training at Royal Air Force (RAF) Cranwell, England.
Prince Mateen continued training as a helicopter pilot. In 2018, he graduated along with 26 other officers from the Defence Helicopter Flying School at the RAF station in Shawbury. The graduation ceremony was attended by the Sultan of Brunei as a special guest. The Sultan presented the aviator badge, also known as ‘wings,’ earned by pilot officers, to the graduates, including his son.
The badge also made Prince Mateen only the second Brunei royal, after his father, to become a licensed pilot.
During his time at Shawbury, the prince trained on the Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil (also known as Squirrel). It was reported at the time that the prince would subsequently take up training to qualify as a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter pilot.
In 2021, he was promoted to Major in the Royal Brunei Air Force (RBAF) — a rank he currently holds. Later the same year, he underwent the All Arms Commando Course (AACC) at the Royal Marine Commando Training Centre (CTCRM) in Lympstone, England.
He is a celebrated polo player
Sports and fitness are perhaps two of his most passionate interests. His Instagram shows him engaging in boxing, football, golf, martial arts, rowing and several other sports. But while the rest may be his ‘interests,’ polo is certainly where Prince Abdul Mateen has his heart. In fact, he has distinguished himself as well as his country in the sport.
Prince Mateen has played polo for the Brunei national polo team and represented the country at the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) on two occasions. He has reportedly said that he enjoys the complexities of the sport, along with the dexterity, multitasking and control that are required.
In 2017, he was part of the team that won the Bronze medal, defeating Singapore at the Equestrian Park Putrajaya in the 29th edition of the games in Kuala Lumpur. His sister, Princess Azemah Ni’matul Bolkiah, was also part of the team. Their father, the Sultan, was present during the match, which made the win more special for Brunei and the royals.
Prince Mateen repeated the Bronze medal, winning the feat two years later at the 30th edition of the games in the Philippines.
The diplomatic life of Prince Abdul Mateen
One of the most important duties of any senior royal family member is representing the monarch at significant diplomatic events. Prince Mateen, too, undertakes a similar role in the Brunei royal family.
While his older half-brother, Crown Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah, will be the next Sultan of Brunei, Prince Mateen has increasingly been seen accompanying Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah or acting as his representative at several significant diplomatic events and engagements over the past few years.
He accompanied his father to Jordan in 2018 for a meeting with King Abdullah ll. He was with the Sultan when the latter arrived at 10 Downing Street in London for a bilateral meeting with then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in February 2020. He met US President Joe Biden at the US-ASEAN Special Summit alongside his father in May 2022.
In September 2022, Prince Mateen attended the funeral service of Queen Elizabeth II. He was also among the guests at the coronation of King Charles III along with his father the following year.
Through the rest of 2022 and 2023, he attended multiple ASEAN meetings across Southeast Asia, visited Bangladesh and met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, visited Saudi Arabia and met Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, met leaders of Bahrain, attended the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan and Princess Rajwa, and visited France and met President Emmanuel Macron.
He ended 2023 with a visit to Japan with the Sultan for the commemorative summit for the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation. On the occasion, he joined his father in a meeting with Emperor Naruhito at the Imperial Palace and later met Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
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In September 2023, he visited Singapore as a Lee Kuan Yew Exchange Fellow. Underlining the significance of his time in the Lion City, he said, “Brunei and Singapore share a special and unique relationship and it is my aim to continue to maintain that relationship for future generations. It has been a great week of visiting many of Singapore’s successful institutions, as well as catching up with old friends.”
What does Prince Abdul Mateen own?
The Brunei royal has never shied away from flaunting his wealth with his millions of followers on Instagram. Everything — from classic Ferrari to expensive watches and luxury vacations on yachts to his official duties as a royal — Prince Mateen has practically offered more than just a glimpse into his personal life.
There is at least one Land Rover Defender 90 that can be seen in multiple Instagram posts by the prince in 2018.
He has exotic house pets and in 2017, he shared a picture of a white tiger cub on his social media, writing that the beautiful beast was his “buddy.” In fact, he reportedly calls himself the “father of tigers.”
The Vietnam Times said in a report that he is a regular at the Formula 1 night race in Singapore and called him “a frequent patron of the tailor shops along the famed street in west London.”
“If a shining silver armour is the outfit of choice for the princes of yore, then a sharp, three-piece, Savile Row suit is exactly what Prince Mateen will save the day in; in today’s age of Instagram,” the report said about the prince’s style.
According to Vietnam Times, he “owns an enviable wardrobe of quality British tailoring, and is often spotted looking dapper in them”.
It is believed that Prince Mateen resides in Istana Nurul Izzah, a palace located on the outskirts of Bandar Seri Begawan near Jerudong. The royal palace has a series of landscaped gardens, offering private spaces to the residents. It has several public function rooms, including a throne room, and multiple private royal suites. The Sultan resides at Istana Nurul Iman in the capital, which is both the residence of the monarch and the seat of the Government of Brunei.
Even though the high-net-worth lifestyle of Prince Mateen is easily discernible via his Instagram posts, there is no concrete information about the exact assets he owns. On the contrary, an estimate of his father’s fortune may give a hint of the luxurious life that the prince and his siblings have been leading from birth.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has a net worth of USD 28 to USD 30 billion, which makes him one of the richest persons in the world. He lives the most luxurious life for any royal. Reports suggest that he owns around 7,000 cars, which include around 600 Rolls-Royces, over 400 Ferraris and more than 350 Bentleys. One of his Rolls-Royces is believed to be coated in gold and one of his Ferrari cars, a 456 GT Venice, is just one of seven ever made.
The Sultan also reportedly owns his own Boeing 747-400, Boeing 767-200 and Airbus A340-200 jets. The Boeing 747-400 is also believed to be embellished in gold on the inside and cost around USD 400 million.
The palace in which he lives has 1,700 rooms and is hailed as one of the largest royal residences in the world.
What is the net worth of Prince Abdul Mateen?
Based on what is known about the Brunei royal, it is not possible to peg the exact net worth of Prince Abdul Mateen. A country profile by BBC says that Brunei has one of the world’s highest standards of living due to its oil and gas reserves. It adds that members of the royal family have “huge private fortunes.”
Since the country is an absolute monarchy and, according to the BBC, the press is “owned or controlled by the royal family,” there is a lack of information about the exact wealth of royal family members and the sources of their fortune.
This is unlike the system in constitutional monarchies, such as those of the United Kingdom and Denmark, where certain information regarding the income of the royal household and their finances are publicly announced. Moreover, the British monarch receives a Sovereign Grant which is a part of the income from the Crown Estate that the British government gives to the monarch to fund the latter’s official duties.
Nevertheless, Prince Abdul Mateen is likely a multi-millionaire by net worth. One of his sources of income could be the salary he might be drawing as a pilot officer of the RBAF, quite like Prince Harry used to when he served in the British Army Air Corps.
His fiancée, Anisha Rosnah, too, comes from wealth. According to The Independent, she owns a fashion brand named Silk Collective and is the co-owner of a tourism enterprise named Authentirary.
(Hero and Featured images: Mateen/@tmski/Instagram)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
– Who will be the next Brunei king?
Al-Muhtadee Billah ibni Hassanal Bolkiah, the eldest son of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and his wife Queen Saleha, will succeed his father as the next Sultan of Brunei.
– Why is Brunei so rich?
Brunei is rich because of its plentiful oil and gas reserves.
– Who rules Brunei now?
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah is the current ruler of Brunei.
– What is the religion of Brunei?
According to the government, Islam is the official religion of Brunei Darussalam and has been since the 14th century. About 66 per cent of the population are Muslim, according to the government. Other faiths, such as Christianity and Buddhism, are also practised in the State.
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