Iskandar of Malaysia

In full, Duli Yang Maha Mulia Baginda Al-Mutawakkil Alallah Sultan Iskandar Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Sir Ismail Al-Khalidi (born April 8, 1932) in Johor Bahru was the eighth Yang di-Pertuan Agong (roughly equivalent to King) of Malaysia from April 26, 1984 to April 25, 1989, and fourth Sultan of Johor.

The eldest son of Sultan Ismail ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim by Sultanah Ungku Tun Aminah binti Ungku Paduka Bena Sri Maharaja Utama Ahmad, the prince was named Tunku Mahmood Iskandar. However, as all other Sultans of Johor with the name "Mahmood" met with an uneasy end, he dropped his first name upon succeeding his father on May 10, 1981.

A controversial figure in Malaysia, Sultan Iskandar has led a chequered life. Appointed Tunku Mahkota or Crown Prince in 1959, he was dismissed from that post in 1961 by his father after being found guilty of assault in the Malaysian courts and sentenced to imprisonment. However, Sultan Ismail relented on his deathbed and restored Tunku Mahmood Iskandar to the succession ten days before the former died.

A keen soldier, Sultan Iskandar was often at loggerheads with the then Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad while he was Sultan of Johor. However, in 1984, upon election as Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Iskandar warmed to his Prime Minister and relationships between the two reached dizzying heights when Mahathir was invested with the first class family order of the crown of Johor, a previously unheard of honour for a commoner.

While he was Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Iskandar created further controversy by assaulting a golf caddy. A soldier, the brother of the caddy who was badly injured, subsequently ran amok in Kuala Lumpur causing a security scare. The soldier was later arrested and sent to a mental hospital.

His assault on a hockey coach and teacher, Mr Douglas Gomez (d.1999) sparked a constitutional crisis between the government and the Malay Rulers which culminated in the removal of the legal immunity from prosecution of all the rulers in March 1993.

Sultan Iskandar, however, continues to be immune from prosecution for his previous offences as the law which provides for the rulers to be stripped of their legal immunity was not made retroactive. (i.e. having a backdating effect)

Sultan Iskandar divorced the mother of his Crown Prince, a Cornish lady by the name of Josephine Trevorrow, in favour of Tengku Zanariah binti Tengku Panglima Raja Ahmad of the Kelantan royal family. She served as his Raja Permaisuri Agong and is the current Sultanah of Johor.