William Brooke

William Brooke
Rajah of North Borneo
Reign	21 May 2004 - present
Coronation	29 June 2004
Predecessor	Leonard Brooke
Born	William Charles Brooke (1951-01-03) 3 January 1951 Brooke Palace, Kuching
Spouse	Sarah Young (m. 1978)
Issue	Michael, Rajah Muda of North Borneo Alice Brooke
Full name William Charles Brooke
House	House of Brooke
Father	Leonard Brooke
Mother	Eloise Brooke
Religion	Anglicanism

William Brooke (William Charles Brooke; born 3 January 1951) is Rajah of North Borneo. He ascended to the throne on May 2004 following the death of his father, Leonard Brooke, whom was also the first monarch of the House of Brooke to rule over a unified North Borneo following its unification in 1953, and also its longest reigning monarch to date. He is the great-great grand nephew of the British soldier and adventurer, James Brooke, whom became the first Rajah of Sarawak in August 1842. To date, along with Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, William is one of the two existing monarchs in the world whose people differ significantly from their monarch in terms of culture, race, and religion, with William himself, an Anglican monarch ruling over a largely diverse population, consisting of both Muslims and Christians, aswell as Buddhist and others too.

As Rajah of North Borneo, William is the country's official head of state, although he constitutionally retains substantial powers himself. On the other hand, as prescribed by the country's constitution, William otherwise rules the country with the advice of an elected prime minister, whom since the kingdom's unification has been democratically elected by the local populace. To date, his reign includes the early years of the ongoing War on Terror conflict, along with sustained development of the kingdom's infrastructure and economy, amidst a brief halt on its progress during the 2007-2008 financial crisis. During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, William has overseen the country's response to the pandemic, with the Rajah himself being personally active in either physically or financially contributing towards efforts in curbing the spread of the virus within the kingdom.

In 1978, he married Sarah Young, an English actress, with whom he has two children, Michael, Rajah Muda of North Borneo and Alice Brooke.

Early Life

William was born on January 3rd 1951 as the eldest child of Rajah Leonard Brooke and Eloise Brooke, a former Australian shopkeeper. Almost immediately, as the eldest child of the ruling Rajah at the time, William was promptly bestowed upon with the title of Rajah Muda, or crown prince of the Raj of Sarawak.

On precisely July 17th 1953, William's home country of Sarawak was formally united with the bordering British Crown Colony of North Borneo, thus forming the current Raj of North Borneo. At the same time, this decision was otherwise significantly opposed by the Indonesian government at the time, whom argued that the unification itself was neo-colonial in nature. Thus, following an armed invasion that year orchestrated by the Indonesian military along its land border, a two year old William and his family were forced to temporarily empty their traditional residence of Brooke Palace in the capital city of Kuching, in favour of a rather dangerous, but overall successful relocation to the more distant city of Kota Kinabalu up north, where the then family of three lived in almost complete secrecy up until the end of the conflict just two years later, with both the Bornean and Indonesian governments agreeing to a Thai-sponsored peace deal, in which Sukarno, the then President of Indonesia, formally recognised the new state's independence and sovereignty, while the Bornean Chief Minister at the time, Noah Cooper, affirmed the two country's newly established land borders on the island of Borneo itself.

During the subsequent post-war years, owing to a combination of large foreign investment along with aggressive actions taken by the government to develop and industrialise the country, which had then been ravaged by two armed conflicts, namely the Second World War and the Indo-North Bornean War, the Raj itself would quickly begin to experience an almost rapid pace of industrialisation, which among others, in turn led to a gradual increase in the general living standards of the local population. At the same time, in an initiative meant to better accustom the young Rajah Muda to the diverse local population, William himself was sent to study at both a local primary and secondary school, namely the James Brooke Primary School and the St. Joseph's Secondary School, both of which are located in the capital city of Kuching itself.

Titles & Honours

• 3 January 1951 - 17 July 1953 His Highness The Rajah Muda of Sarawak
• 17 July 1953 - 21 May 2004 His Highness The Rajah Muda of North Borneo
• 21 May 2004 - Present His Highness The Rajah of North Borneo