Pin Up of the Month

I offer this handsome gentleman as my pin-up of the month. He is Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al Said of Oman, ruler of Ibadhi Muslim Oman since 1970, when he deposed his father, a rather charmless despot. The good king Qaboos seems to be much-loved by his subjects, although there is some nervousness about who might ascend to the throne when he dies. You see, the Sultan is a confirmed bachelor and, although he married briefly in the 1970s, appears to have no offspring. Rumours abound that he has a son hidden in England, as he was hidden by his father for much of his youth. It's a family tradition, it seems. Oman certainly doesn't suffer from having an "artistic" ruler - the country is art directed to death, with the men obliged to wear long white robes and the women jewelled black burqas. In the capital Muscat, all the buildings must be painted white and can't rise above six stories. Pure Arabian Nights. My story on Oman and the gorgeous new Shangri-La Hotel will appear in Vogue Australia some time in early 2007.