Sheikha Moza

Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser al-Missned, the wife of the Emir of Qatar, is the oldest of these three remarkable ladies, born in 1964. She studied sociology at the University of Qatar and caught the Prince’s eye with her charm and intellect. He immediately asked for her hand in marriage and, after coming to power in a bloodless coup against his own father in 1995, gave her powers like no other "sheikha" ever had before. Moza’s first and greatest feat was the Education City, founded on the outskirts of Doha.

A non-profit organization chaired by the Sheikha, it houses five top-notch US universities, being Virginia Commonwealth University (School of Arts in Qatar), founded in 1998, the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (established by Cornell University), founded in 2001, Texas A&M University at Qatar (founded in 2003), Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (2004), and Georgetown University School of Foreign Service (2005). By the end of 2008, Northwestern University will open a school of journalism and communications in Doha as well. Students at the Doha campus can cross-register classes with the original universities in the US. Not surprisingly, she was given an honorary PhD by Carnegie Mellon.

The herculean feat has revolutionized Qatari society, brought thousands of newcomers (staff, students, and administration) to Doha and encouraged massive investment in Qatar. With a beautiful face that evokes pride and seriousness, Moza travels the world with her laptop, attending and chairing meetings both as first lady of Qatar, and a special envoy for UNESCO on Basic and Higher Education. She is also President of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in Qatar, and Vice-President of the Supreme Education Council.

Recently, she put full weight behind the founding of al-Jazeera's Children Channel, in addition to the 24-hour news service, to promote education among Arab children. Sheikha Moza does not stop there - she works for establishing a center for embittered women in the Arab World, building non-Muslim places of worship in Qatar, and more recently, introduced the now-world famous Doha Debates to Qatar.

Hosted by veteran presenter Tim Sebastian, who presented Hardtalk on BBC, the Doha Debates address Middle East issues in a mock-parliamentary manner, marketing itself - under Moza's guidance - as "a forum for free speech in the Arab world". The high profile forum, which encourages both discussion and voting, is modeled after England's Oxford Union Society, a debate club in Oxford dating back to 1823. Additionally, under auspices of the royal couple, Qatari women were given the right to vote, in 1997.

Speaking in an interview with the Christian Science Monitor, Moza recently said "I have lived with my husband more than I have with my parents. I live besides him, and know his worries, his hopes, and his dreams for his nation. We believe it is our duty to make things happen!"

She has pushed her husband into modern behavior - like interaction with royal staff, driving himself around town, and calling up any minister on his cell phone to inquire on any issue or solve anything that needs to be fixed. The royal couple continue to support al-Jazeera, the leading Arab news channel, and are bidding to hold the Olympics in Doha. She also tries to keep her head steady from all the media attention, and provide her children with maximal parental attention, treating their worries, fears, and hopes like those of any ordinary teenagers and not young royals.

Moza says, "We bring them up as normal individuals. When I go back to the house we talk about everything; what I did, what I have seen, what they think, and what their ambitions are. Its refreshing to hear the point of view of young minds because this is what we are building here - for them and people like them."

Five years ago, in a gesture of appreciation towards Moza, Sheikh Hamad chose their child Tamim, as Heir Apparent. The young man is a graduate of Sandhurt Military Academy in the UK, just like his father, is deputy commander of the armed forces, and chairman of the Qatar Olympic Committee.

Moza does not try to discard her Arab identity, nor does she encourage Qataris to become over-Westernized. On the contrary, she champions national identity, and says, "People tend to believe that to be modern you have to disengage from your heritage. But it's not true. We don't see the global citizen as someone with no identity, but rather, someone who has confidence and is proud of his culture and history - and open to the modern world." This is another trait that unites her both with First Lady Assad and Queen Rania.