Born circa 1959 into Kuwait’s ruling Sabah family, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.

 

From 1986 to 1991 he was the diplomatic attaché for the Office of the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in Kuwait. From 1991 to 1998 he served with Kuwait’s mission to the United Nations in New York, including, from 1997, as first secretary. Al-Sabah then served as ambassador to South Korea from 1998 to 2001, when he was posted to Washington, DC.

 

He speaks Arabic, English and French. He is married to Lebanese-born former journalist Sheikha Rima Al-Sabah, whom he met in 1983 when both were students in Beirut. They married in 1988 and are raising four sons.