Raja Zarith Sofia

Raja Zarith Sofiah
Permaisuri of Johor
Tenure	23 January 2010 – present
Coronation	23 March 2015
Predecessor	Tunku Puan Zanariah
Born	(1959-08-14) 14 August 1959 Batu Gajah Hospital, Batu Gajah, Perak, Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia)
Spouse	Sultan Ibrahim Ismail
Issue	Tunku Ismail Idris Tunku Aminah Tunku Idris Tunku Abdul Jalil (deceased 5th December 2015) Tunku Abdul Rahman Tunku Abu Bakar
Full name Raja Zarith Sofiah binti Almarhum Sultan Idris Iskandar Al-Muttawakkil Alallahi Shah II Afifullah
House	Temenggong Dynasty
Father	Sultan Idris Shah II of Perak
Mother	Raja Muzwin binti Raja Ariff Shah
Religion	Sunni Islam

Johor Royal Family
HRH Sultan Ibrahim Ismail, The Sultan HRH Permaisuri Raja Zarith Sofia of Perak, Permaisuri HH Tunku Ismail Idris, The Crown Prince HH Che' Puan Khaleeda Bustamam, The Crown Princess HH Tunku Idris Iskandar, Tunku Temenggung HH Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tunku Panglima HH Tunku Abu Bakar Iman, Tunku Putera HH Tunku Aminah, Tunku Puteri HH Enche' Besar Kalsom Abdullah, Sultan's mother HH Tunku Kamariah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah, Tunku Puteri Johor & Tengku Puan Panglima di-Raja HH Tengku Sulaiman Shah of Selangor, Tengku Panglima di-Raja Tengku Shakirin al-Amin Mahmud Ismail Ahmad Shah of Selangor Tengku Salehuddin Ismail Shah of Selangor Tengku Shahrain Ismail Ibrahim Iskandar Hishamuddin Shah of Selangor Tengku Sharifuddin Ibrahim Ismail Iskandar Abdul Aziz Shah of Selangor Tengku Kathira Zanariah Ihsan Maimuna Amina Iskandar Putri of Selangor HH Tunku Zabedah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah, Tunku Besar HH Tunku Azizah Amina Maimuna Iskandariah, Tengku Puan Pahang HH Tengku Abdullah of Pahang, The Crown Prince Tengku Hassanal of Pahang Tengku Muhammad of Pahang Tengku Ahmad Ismail of Pahang Tengku Putri Nur Jihan of Pahang Tengku Putri Afzan Amina of Pahang HRH Tunku Puan Zanariah of Kelantan, Iskandar's widow HH Tunku Abdul Majid, Tunku Bendahara Tunku Teh Mazni Yusuf Tunku Mahmood Iskandar Tunku Aisha Menjalara Iskandar HH Tunku Mariam Zahrah HH Tunku Noraini Fatimah Ramlan HH Tunku Maimuna Ismailiah Mizan HH Tunku Muna Najiah Shaftdean Lufty HH Tunku Amina Kalsom Masera Marian Zahira Iskandariah

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.

Early life and education

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.

Current activities

Raja Zarith Sofia 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).

Raja Zarith is a strong advocate of improving the use of English in Malaysia. In addition to Malay and English, she speaks Mandarin Chinese, Italian and French.

She has authored several children's books, including Puteri Gunung Ledang, and writes for the The Star's "Mind Matters" column.

Raja Zarith supports various charitable and non-governmental organisations. She is a patron of the Johor Spastic Children's Association, Rotary Club of Tebrau Heart Fund and the Malaysian English Language Teaching Association. She is also the Chair of the Community Services Committee of the Malaysian Red Crescent Society.

Raja Zarith Sofia is also active in religious activities. There is a foundation which is named after her which is called Yayasan Raja Zarith Sofiah Negeri Johor. It was launched on 28 November 2012 at the Kuala Lumpur campus of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia The foundation's purpose is to generate funds for various educational programmes. The foundation was set up after the Sultan of Johor and she agreed with the proposal by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, in line with the Royal Johor Institution, in developing the teachings of Islam.

Marriage and children

In 1982, Raja Zarith married the (then) Tunku Mahkota (Crown Prince) of Johor, Tunku Ibrahim Ismail. Ibrahim Ismail was proclaimed the 25th Sultan of Johor after the death of his father in January 2010. However, Raja Zarith has not been crowned Sultanah and is simply referred to as consort of the Sultan of Johor.

She and Sultan Ibrahim have six children:

• Tunku Ismail Idris Abdul Majid Abu Bakar (born 30 June 1984), the current Tunku Mahkota of Johor
• Tunku Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah (born c. 1987), a cosmetics designer
• Tunku Idris (born c. 1988)
• Tunku Abdul Jalil (born c. 1990-2015)
• Tunku Abdul Rahman (born c. 1993)
• Tunku Abu Bakar (born c. 2001)

Titles and styles

Raja Zarith Sofia is styled in full as: Duli Yang Maha Mulia Raja Zarith Sofia binti Almarhum Sultan Idris Shah. She does not hold the title of 'Sultanah'.

As a daughter of the Sultan of Perak, she acquired the style Yang Amat Mulia, which did not change upon her marriage to the Tunku Mahkota (Crown Prince) of Johor. On 22 November 2010, almost a year after her husband became Sultan, she was granted the style Duli Yang Maha Mulia Tuanku Raja Zarith Sofia.

In 2015, she was crowned as Permaisuri of Johor during the coronation ceremony of Sultan Ibrahim, and became styled Duli Yang Maha Mulia Permaisuri Raja Zarith Sofia.

Honours

See also List of honours of the Johor Royal Family by country

She has been awarded :

Honours of Johor

• Johor (Zarith Sofia, Sultana of Johor) :
  • Second Class of the Royal Family Order of Johor (DK II)
  • First Class of the Order of the Crown of Johor (SPMJ)

Honours of Perak

• Perak (Zarith Sofia, née Princess of Perak) :
  • Recipient of the Royal Family Order of Perak (DK, 21 May 2012)
  • Grand Knight of the Order of Cura Si Manja Kini (the Perak Sword of State, SPCM, ) with title Dato' Seri

Ancestry

Family of Raja Zarith Sofia

16. Raja Alang Iskandar Raja Ahmad (=20)               8. Sultan Idris Shah I of Perak (=24)                       17. Che Ken Uda Abdul Rahman (=21)               4. Sultan Iskandar of Perak                             18. Manda Duwayat               9. Che Nga Manah                       2. Sultan Idris Shah II of Perak                                   20. Raja Alang Iskandar Raja Ahmad (=16)               10. Raja Kulop Muhammad Kramat                       21. Che Ken Uda Abdul Rahman (=17)               5. Raja Puteh Umi Kalsum                             22. Raja Ibrahim               11. Raja Sofia                       1. Permaisuri Raja Zarith Sofia                                         24. Sultan Idris Shah I of Perak (=8)               12. Raja Harun al-Rashid                       25. Che Uteh Mariah Sulaiman               6. Raja Arif Shah                             26. Ngah Ahmad               13. Rahmah                       3. Raja Mazwin                                   7. Cik Puan Aziza Abdullah

External links

• "Mind Matters" at The Star