Sultan Ghalib bin ‘Awadh al-Qu’aiti, the last ruler of the Qu’aiti State, Hadhramaut (presently Yemen), was born in 1948 and educated mostly in England, with an MA from Oxford in Oriental Studies (Islamic history) and another in Arabian Studies from Cambridge, both with honors. The sultan has been a Saudi resident since 1968, presently residing in Jeddah. He has working knowledge of Arabic, English, Urdu/Hindi, French, Persian, and German, allowing for a rare depth in his research of various historical periods and geographic regions.