by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

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Born on August 13, 1910, in Muscat, Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, now in the Sultanate of Oman, Said bin Taimur, Sultan of Oman was the eldest child of Taimur bin Feisal, Sultan of Muscat and Oman (1886 – 1965) and the first of his six wives, Sheikha Fatima bint ‘Ali Al-Sa’id (1891 – 1967).

Said’s father Taimur was married to six women and had five sons and one daughter, therefore Said had five half-siblings:

Wife 2: Unknown woman from Yemen:

• Prince Majid bin Taimur al-Said (1912 – ?)

Wife 3: Unknown slave from the Dhofar

• Prince Fahr bin Taimur al-Said (1920 – 1996)

Wife 4: Kamila Khanum, later took the name Madame Kamile lgiray, divorced

Prince Tarik bin Taimur al-Said (1921 – ?)

Wife 5: Kiyoko Oyama (1916 – 1939, divorced

• Princess Buthainah bint Taimur Al Said (1937 – ?)

Wife 6: Sayyida Nafisa Bundukji, divorced

• Prince Shabib bin Taimur al-Said (1943 – ?)

Said was first educated at home. However, his father was strongly against his children learning the ways of the Western world and speaking English. When Said and his brother Majid were found with an English primer, a first textbook for the teaching of reading, their father ordered all their books to be burned. At the age of twelve, Said was sent to Ajmer, Rajputana, India to attend Mayo College, a boys-only independent boarding school where Said became proficient in Urdu and despite his father’s feelings about the language, in English. After Said finished his education at the Mayo College, advisers suggested to his father that Said continue his education in Beirut, Lebanon. However, since his father feared he would be influenced by the Christian element in Lebanon, Said was sent to Baghdad, Iraq to study Arabic literature and history for a year.

In 1932, Said’s father, Taimur bin Feisal, abdicated. Apparently, he had little desire for life in Muscat, or anywhere else in Oman. Afterward, the former Sultan lived in exile in India where he died in Bombay in 1965. The new 21-year-old Sultan of Oman inherited a country that was heavily in debt to the United Kingdom and India. To break away from the United Kingdom (Oman had become a British protectorate in 1891) and maintain autonomy, Oman needed to regain economic independence. During his reign, Said maintained close oversight of Oman’s budget.

Said had two wives who were cousins, his first wife Sheikha Fatima bint Ali al-Mashani and his second wife (married 1936) Sheikha Mazoon bint Ahmed al-Mashani (1925 – 1992). Some serious issues arose during Said’s second marriage. The wedding was interrupted because the bride’s Al-Mashani tribe thought that the bride price was not high enough and so they kidnapped Sheikha Mazoon and brought her into the mountains. Another tribe, the Tabook tribe, rode after the kidnappers in pursuit. They succeeded in stopping the kidnappers and forced them to return the kidnapped Sheikha Mazoon.

Said had no children with his first wife but he had one son and two daughters with his second wife:

• Qaboos bin Said Al-Said, Sultan of Oman (1940 – 2020), unmarried, no children, succeeded by his first cousin Haitham bin Tariq Al Said
• Hujaima bint Sa’id bin Taimur Al-Sa’id (? – 1968)
• Umaima bint Sa’id bin Taimur Al-Sa’id (1934 – 2002)

Oil wealth would have allowed Said to modernize his country. However, his policies were extremely conservative and he opposed any modernization, therefore, Oman was isolated from the outside world. He did achieve Oman’s independence from the United Kingdom in 1951.

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Sultan Said with British Lord Privy Seal Edward Heath at the Foreign Office, London, August 1961

During the 1950s, there were several confrontations between Said’s regime and religious leader Ibadi Imam Ghalib bin Ali, whose revolt in Jebel Akhdar was suppressed in 1955 with British help. In 1964, when Said’s son Qaboos returned from his educational studies in the United Kingdom at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, and a year of service in the British Army, Said placed Qaboos under house arrest. In 1965, the Dhofar Rebellion broke out resulting in an assassination attempt on Said in 1966 by Dhofari rebels. On July 23, 1970, Said was overthrown in a coup d’etat led by the supporters of his son Qaboos who became the Sultan of Qaboos.

Said bin Taimur, former Sultan of Oman lived out the rest of his life in exile in the United Kingdom. He lived the last two years at the Dorchester Hotel in London, where he died on October 19, 1972, at the age of 62. Said was originally buried at Brookwood Cemetery in Woking, Surrey, England. His remains were eventually transported back to Oman, and he was buried in the Royal Cemetery in Muscat, Oman.

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Works Cited

• Ar.wikipedia.org. 2020. سعيد بن تيمور. [online] Available at: <https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%B3%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%AF_%D8%A8%D9%86_%D8%AA%D9%8A%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B1> [Accessed 12 August 2020].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Mazoon Al-Mashani. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazoon_al-Mashani> [Accessed 12 August 2020].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Said Bin Taimur. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Said_bin_Taimur> [Accessed 12 August 2020].
• Royalark.net. 2020. Oman Genealogy. [online] Available at: <https://www.royalark.net/Oman/oman9.htm> [Accessed 12 August 2020].