Moza bint Nasser


Sheikha Moza bint Nasser is the consort of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, former Emir of the State of Qatar.

Early life and education

Moza is the daughter of Nasser bin Abdullah Al-Misned, a well-known opposition activist and the former head of the Al Muhannada confederation of Bani Hajer. After being released from prison due to his political activities and as an act of defiance against the policies of the deposed former Emir Ahmad bin Ali Al Thani, Nasser bin Abdullah led the entire Al Muhannada clan into self-imposed exile to Kuwait in 1964. Nasser returned to Qatar with his immediate family in 1977, the year in which his daughter Moza married Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, when he was heir apparent of Qatar. She received a BA in Sociology from Qatar University in 1986, and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2003.

Areas of work

Moza co-founded and chairs the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, which was set up in 1995.
Moza also acted as chairperson of Silatech since 2008, chairperson of the Arab Democracy Foundation, and president of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs since 1998. She has been vice-president of the Supreme Education Council since 2002 and was UNESCO's Special Envoy for Basic and Higher Education in 2003. Currently, she serves as a member of the Board of Overseers for Weill Cornell Medical College. Besides this, she is the chairperson of Sidra Medical and Research Center, a high-tech women's and children's hospital in Doha. She also endowed this medical center with $7.9 billion.
Unlike many other monarchical wives in the Middle East, Moza has been a high-profile figure in her nation's politics and society, actively involved in Qatar's government. She was a driving force behind Education City and Al Jazeera Children's Channel. She is the owner of Le Tanneur, a French leather-goods manufacturer. Additionally, she has been named as one of Forbes' 100 Most Powerful Women at #75.
As the public consort of the emir, she has represented Qatar alongside her husband and on her own at many international events, including state visits and royal weddings. She has become known for her personal style, customising haute couture designs to fit Qatari modesty rules.
She works with the UN to support global education and has been selected as a UN Advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals.
Moza initiated the World Innovation Summit for Health, a forum for innovative solutions to international health challenges.
Fashion Trust Arabia, launched in September 2018 under the patronage of Moza bint Nasser as Honorary Chair and co-Chaired by Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani and Tania Fares, is an initiative offering financial and business support to womenswear designers.
As summarized by the New York Times in 2018, "Sheikha Moza is the object of lurid, often misogynistic insults in the Saudi, Emirati and Egyptian media, where she is portrayed as a power-hungry manipulator of weak men.

Controversy

In July 2020, a Los Angeles Times investigative report showed that following a 2012 meeting in Los Angeles, California between Sheikha Moza and University of Southern California president C.L. Max Nikias, arranged by USC trustee Thomas J. Barrack Jr., her son Khalifa Bin Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani was admitted to USC as a transfer student from Los Angeles Mission College, a community college. The Los Angeles Times compared this to the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal, "with its allegations of wealthy parents scheming to get underqualified offspring into USC and other universities."

Titles, styles, and honours

Titles and styles

Moza may be styled as "Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser".

Honours

Foreign honours

The royal couple has five sons and two daughters: