 Hamad Al Thani was born in 1952 at the Al Rayyan Palace in Doha, Qatar.He is the eldest child of Emir Khalid bin Hamad bin Abdullah and Emira Mariam.After a coup, his uncle Emir Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani became the 8th Emir of Qatar, and appointed his father as the minister of interior in 1972, where he remained until 1989.