Zarith Sofiah | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Permaisuri of Johor | |||||
Tenure | 23 January 2010 – present | ||||
Coronation | 23 March 2015 | ||||
Predecessor | Tunku Puan Zanariah | ||||
Born |
Batu Gajah Hospital, Batu Gajah, Perak, Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) |
14 August 1959 ||||
Spouse | Sultan Ibrahim Ismail | ||||
Issue |
Tunku Ismail Idris Tunku Aminah Tunku Idris Tunku Abdul Jalil (Deceased 5 December 2015) Tunku Abdul Rahman Tunku Abu Bakar |
||||
|
|||||
House | House of Perak (by birth) House of Temenggong (by marriage) |
||||
Father | Sultan Idris Shah II of Perak | ||||
Mother | Raja Muzwin binti Raja Arif Shah | ||||
Religion | Sunni Islam |
Full name | |
---|---|
Raja Zarith Sofiah binti Raja Idris (as birth) |
Styles of Permaisuri Raja Zarith |
|
---|---|
Reference style | Her Royal Highness |
Spoken style | Your Royal Highness |
Alternative style | Ma'am |
Raja Zarith Sofiah binti Almarhum Sultan Idris Shah (born 14 August 1959) is the Permaisuri (Queen) of Johor. She was born as a member of the Perak Royal Family. While still attending Oxford, she married the then-heir to the throne of Johor. Now a mother of six, she participates in the work of non-governmental organisations and universities, and writes a periodical column for a newspaper.
Raja Zarith Sofiah was born in Batu Gajah Hospital, Batu Gajah, on 14 August 1959 as the third child and second daughter of Sultan Idris Shah II of Perak and Raja Mazwin Raja Arif Shah. Her parents were first step-cousins once removed. She is a second step-cousin of Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak. Sultan Azlan's paternal grandfather, her paternal grandfather and her mother's paternal grandfather were children of Sultan Idris Shah I of Perak, all with different mothers.
She attended Datin Khadijah Primary School and then Raja Perempuan Kalsom School in Kuala Kangsar, before moving on to Cheltenham Ladies' College to complete her secondary education. She attended Somerville College, Oxford and obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Chinese studies from the University of Oxford in 1983 and her Master of Arts in 1986.
Raja Zarith Sofiah is the chancellor of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru. She is also a Fellow of the School of Language Studies and Linguistics, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). She delivered the keynote address at the 2011 UKM International Language Conference. She is the Royal Patron of Oxford University Malaysia Club (beginning Michaelmas 2011).