Oman's sultan was counting his money when his son demanded his abdication in 1970; he fired a pistol, signed, and flew to London that night

Said bin Taimur ruled Oman from 1932. He kept the country poor under an austerity programme and barred emigrants from coming home. After his son Qaboos returned from military training abroad in 1964, he was kept under virtual house arrest near his father's palace in Salalah. Britain controlled Oman's foreign, defence and fiscal policy by treaty, and Whitehall encouraged Qaboos to remove his father. On 23 July 1970 the sultan reportedly spent the afternoon counting his money. When told to sign an abdication letter, he seized a pistol and fired, killing one person and wounding another, according to J. E. Peterson's history. He barricaded himself in his bedroom and claimed he had shot himself. A British officer persuaded him to open the door, and he handed over his two pistols. By the end of the day he had abdicated and was on a plane to London. He lived his last two years at the Dorchester Hotel and died in London on 19 October 1972. He was buried at Brookwood Cemetery in Woking; his remains were later reburied in the royal cemetery in Muscat. Qaboos ruled for nearly 50 years.