Page 340 - They Also Served

in the country. The 4,000-acre Hampshire village and estate of Faccombe was his most cherished investment. He also acted as the sultan’s ‘fixer’ in London, including organising his state visit in 1982. Known as the ‘White Sultan’, Landon was obsessed with security and was driven around London in an unmarked black taxi. He was involved in numerous international arms deals, increasing his wealth while remaining in the background and avoiding the fallout from some questionable transactions. Holding Omani and Canadian passports, he was given an honorary knighthood, as a foreigner, for his success in brokering international deals.
Brigadier Sir Tim Landon KCVO, who went to Sandhurst as the penniless fourth son of an army officer, died on 6th July 2007 and was estimated to be worth some £500 million. So secretive was he, and so loyal were his staff, that there is only one known photograph of him, sitting in a Land Rover in Oman in the early days of his service.
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