His Royal Highness Sultan Nazrin Shah is the Ruler of the state of Perak, Malaysia. He is a descendant of a dynasty dating back to 1528. He was born Raja Nazrin Shah on 27 November 1956.

Following the tradition of succession in the Sultanate of Perak, he was made Raja Kechil Besar, a Titled Prince to the throne, by the Dewan Negara Perak (Council of State), on 16 February 1984. He then became the Raja Muda (Crown Prince) on 15 April 1987. Upon the demise of his father, His Royal Highness Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah, on 28 May 2014, the Dewan Negara proclaimed Raja Nazrin Shah as the 35th Sultan of Perak, styled as Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah. His enthronement, almost a year later, took place on 6 May 2015.

Besides his constitutional duties in Malaysia, Sultan Nazrin Shah served as co-Chair of the United Nations High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing 2015. He was Malaysia’s Special Envoy for Interfaith and Inter-civilisational Dialogue at the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations (UNAOC).

At home, His Royal Highness is Chancellor of the University of Malaya—Malaysia’s oldest university. He is also the Colonel-in-Chief of the Regiment of Royal Engineers and of the Royal Medical Corps in the Malaysian Armed Forces.

Sultan Nazrin Shah is an Honorary Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, and of Magdalene College and St. Edmund’s College, both Cambridge. He is a Trustee of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, University of Oxford; Royal Fellow of the Malaysian Institute of Defense and Security; Royal Fellow of the Malaysian Institute of Strategic and International Studies; Royal Fellow of the Institute of Public Security of Malaysia; Royal Patron of the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations of Malaysia; and Royal Patron (formerly, Financial Ambassador) of the Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre.

His Royal Highness received his early education at Jalan Kuantan Primary School, and thereafter at St. John’s Institution, both in Kuala Lumpur. He subsequently went on to finish his schooling at The Leys School, Cambridge, in the United Kingdom. He then read Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at the University of Oxford. In addition to his BA degree from Oxford, the Sultan holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration (Kennedy School of Government) and a PhD in Political Economy and Government, both from Harvard University. He has also received honorary degrees from universities in the United Kingdom and Japan.

Sultan Nazrin Shah is married to Tuanku Zara Salim. They have a son, Raja Azlan Muzzaffar Shah and a daughter Raja Nazira Safya.