Front: Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah I (1946-) and riverside simpur plant

Bolkiah was graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and has received an honorary doctorate from a Russian University.

He became Sultan of Brunei in 1967 when his father abdicated voluntarily. Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, of which Brunei was a protectorate until 1984, knighted him. Bolkiah also held the positions of Prime Minister, Defense Minister, and Finance Minister. He has not favored democratization. Brunei has no elected legislature since the Legislative Council was dissolved in 1962.

The Sultan has married three times, the second marriage to a Bruneian air stewardess ending in divorce and the third marriage to a former Malaysian TV3 presenter occurring in August 2005. The Sultan has a sizable private fortune. He was considered by Forbes Magazine to be the world's richest man in 1997, with a net worth of almost US$ 40 billion.

Back: Rain forest waterfall

Front: Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah I (1946-) and pitcher plant

Back: Rain forest floor

Front: Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah I (1946-) and purple-leafed forest yam

Back: Rain forest canopy

Front: Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah I (1946-) and Tepus Kantan medicinal flowers

Back: Local flora (Tropical Shrub)

Front: Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah I (1946-) and Kuduk Kuduk (Indian Rhododendron)

Back: Pulau Chernin, an estuarine island and protected ecological site