King Hamad of Bahrain changes title, becomes 'His Greatest Majesty'

King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa of Bahrain has reportedly ordered his royal title to be changed from "His Majesty" to "His Greatest Majesty",  media reported on Tuesday.

The Gulf country’s Royal Court, through the ministry of information, sent a notice to local news outlets ordering them to use the new title in reports, as well as in official speeches and correspondences. 

القرن ،21
العالم يخطّط الى ما هو أبعد من القمر والمريخ والمشتري،
صوت الشعوب يعلو أينما كان،
والإعلام البحريني الرسمي/ بوق نظام حمد يبتكر لقبًا جديدًا سيُطيح بكلّ مشاكل #البحرين وأزمته السياسية والاقتصادية

"جلالة الملك المعظم"! pic.twitter.com/JeEn3twY2e

— 𝕷𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖋𝖆 𝖆𝖑-𝕳𝖚𝖘𝖘𝖊𝖎𝖓𝖎 (@latifahusseini) May 25, 2022

"Please adopt the following name for His Greatest Majesty, and amend the news received in your newspaper today: His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, King of the Great Country, may God protect and protect him," the notice read.

King Hamad’s latest title has drawn criticism from activists online, who ridiculed the move.

One activist, Latifa Al-Husseini said sarcastically: "The world is planning [to go] beyond the moon, Mars and Jupiter, and the Hamad regime invents a new title that will bring down all of Bahrain's problems and its political and economic crisis."

Another activist, Yusuf Al-Jamri remarked: "Perhaps it can be said sarcastically that the problems of the country and the people in Bahrain have been resolved once and for all, and that there is a genius in power who was guided to solve all of this with one stroke of a pen [the following the notice]."

King Hamad has amended his title before. The 72-year-old monarch, who has ruled Bahrain since 1999, was declared an Islamic constitutional monarchy in 2011 thus making him king instead of the emir.

Bahrain has been criticised by rights groups for its poor human rights records, where abuses against pro-democracy activists have been widespread, particularly since protests erupted in 2011.

More recently, the kingdom established diplomatic ties with Israel as part of the controversial so-called Abraham Accords, brokered by then-US President Donald Trump in 2020.

The UAE, Morocco and Sudan also normalised ties with Israel at the time, drawing unanimous condemnation across the Arab World who decried the move as a stab in the back for the Palestinian people.