“彩虹酋长”沙漠刻“大”名太空可见

Every child has written their names on the beach at some point.

But whereas most people's 'sandwriting' is washed away, one super-rich Arab sheikh has ensured that his doodles will last a little longer.

Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, 63, has scrawled his name in sand on an island he owns with letters so big they can be seen from space.

The word 'HAMAD' measures 1,000 metres high and is a staggering two miles long from the 'H' to the 'D' on the Al Futaisi island.

And rather than allow the writing to be washed away by the ocean, the letters actually form waterways that absorb the encroaching tide. The ruler's name is even visible on Google's map service.

Hamad dreamed up the idea and had his workmen toil for weeks to craft the enormous piece of sand graffiti. It is not known how much it cost to make.

However, the sheikh boasts a personal fortune second only to the Saudi king's.

Hamad, also known as the 'Rainbow Sheikh', is a member of the Abu Dhabi Ruling Family.

He is understood to have some 200 cars including seven Mercedes 500 SELs painted in different colours of the rainbow which he stores in a giant pyramid.

The Arab sheikh has a taste for doing things on a large scale. He built the world's largest truck - eight times the size of the Dodge Power Wagon, with four bedrooms inside the cabin.

Hamad constructed a motor home in the shape of a giant globe which is exactly 1 millionth the size of the actual earth.

Alongside his lavish displays of wealth he has become a well-known philanthropist in medicine and supplied a complete kidney stone operating theatre to a public hospital in Morocco where he continues to fund its staff.