She has harnessed her influence to tirelessly promote her charitable causes, including her role as chair of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development.

In recent years, the programme has established Education City, where international universities run degree courses – a project that ties in nicely with the Sheikha’s post as vice chair of Qatar’s Supreme Education Council. She is also president of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs, a government institution launched to encourage families to take a more active role in society.

Other duties include chairing the $7.9bn Sidra Medical and Research Centre project, a development tied to Qatar’s Education City and tasked with upgrading healthcare services in the Gulf state.

On the international stage, Sheikha Mozah is UNESCO’s special envoy for basic and higher education. The role involves promoting international projects to improve education worldwide. In 2003, she established the International Fund for Higher Education in Iraq, which focuses on rebuilding the country’s higher learning institutes.

Some two years later, Sheikha Mozah was appointed a member of the UN Alliance of Civilisations by then secretary general Kofi Annan.