Succession to the Saudi Arabian throne
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The order of succession to the Saudi Arabian throne is determined by, and within, the House of Saud. Every King of Saudi Arabia, upon his death, has been succeeded by the crown prince, with a new crown prince then being appointed according to agnatic seniority among the sons of Ibn Saud, though various members of the family have been bypassed for various reasons. A deputy crown prince (second in line for the throne) was first selected in 2014.
The accession of the monarch to the throne was observed as Royal Seating Day at official levels until 1963, when it was replaced by the Saudi National Day during the reign of King Faisal bin Abdulaziz.
The current ruler of Saudi Arabia is King Salman,[1] who succeeded King Abdullah on his death on 23 January 2015. On the same day, Prince Muqrin became Crown Prince only to be replaced three months later by Muhammad bin Nayef at the order of Salman.[2]
On the morning of 21 June 2017,
History
Abdulaziz "Ibn Saud"
The House of Saud controlled vast parts of the Arabian peninsula for two and a half centuries. The dynasty collapsed twice in the 1800s due to discord over succession. In 1890s, the Al Sauds were completely supplanted by the Al Rashid. The kingdom began to fight to restore itself through Emir Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman, known to the world as "Ibn Saud", and his capture of Riyadh in 1902.[7] After much tumult, Saudi Arabia became a kingdom in 1932.
As Ibn Saud conquered Arabia, he formed alliances by polygamous marriages to members of its biggest tribes. This strengthened his power within the Al Sauds and expanded his legitimacy in Arabia, not to mention nearly a hundred children, sixty of whom were boys. He died in 1953.[8]
The question of succession in Arabia: 1920–1953
When Ibn Saud first began the reconquest of his kingdom, he had a son named
In the late 1920s and early 30s, Ibn Saud's brother Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman began to argue with him as to who would be next in line, Ibn Saud's second son Saud or Muhammad's own son Khalid bin Muhammad. In 1933, the king made his choice, and Prince Saud was declared Crown Prince.
Late in life, King ibn Saud declared that he wished that the Saudi succession would be via agnatic seniority and that Saud's heir presumptive would be his third, and more capable son, Faisal. Accordingly, when the old king died in 1953, Saud became king and Faisal was immediately declared Crown prince.
Saud vs. Faisal
For the eleven years of his reign, the question of who was to succeed King Saud was considered a "done deal". However, as the war between the King and Crown Prince grew more heated in the early 1960s, the King let it be known that he was considering changing the line of succession from
The problem of Prince Mohammed
Faisal became the next king. Prince Mohammed served as Crown Prince from 1964 to 1965. Prince Mohammed was an intelligent and dynamic personality, leaving the possibility of another royal feud. During one of the times Faisal had taken over the government, he had appointed his half brother
Fahd and Abdullah
One of the reasons that Mohammed initially demured from standing down, was his distrust of the so-called Sudairi Seven, the sons of Ibn Saud's favorite wife. The eldest of the group, Prince Fahd (Ibn Saud's eighth son), had been Faisal's top choice. He was given the position of "second deputy Prime Minister" and at the same time, royal sources let it be known that Prince Abdullah (Ibn Saud's eleventh son), head of the National Guard, would be in line after him. They were the next two kings after Khalid, and between the two they reigned for thirty-three years.
Return of the Sudairis
In 1975 King Faisal was assassinated, and Crown Prince Khalid became the new king. When King Khalid's health began to rapidly decline, the problem of succession came back into the fore. Crown Prince Fahd (Ibn Saud's eighth son) wanted to pass over his brothers Princes Bandar and Musa'id (Ibn Saud's tenth and twelfth sons) for "heir to the heir". Prince Musa'id was in disgrace, his son having murdered King Faisal, but Bandar was a different matter.[10]
For much of his life, Bandar had stayed away from government, preferring private business. However, now he demanded his right to the succession, and also to the Defense portfolio of Defense Minister
After King Khalid's death, King Fahd became the new king, and reigned from 1982 to 2005. Fahd had initially wanted his full brother, Prince Sultan (Ibn Saud's fifteenth son), to become his heir. But upon his death he was succeeded by his half brother Abdullah (Ibn Saud's eleventh son). Abdullah ascended the throne on his 81st birthday, and Prince Sultan was automatically promoted to the position of crown prince. Most other surviving sons of Ibn Saud were elderly and bypassed.
Crown Prince Sultan convinced the King to appoint the next Sudairi,
Allegiance Council
With the advancing ages of the sons of Ibn Saud (the youngest was born in 1945), King Abdullah created the
Power of the Council
The purpose of the Council is to ensure a smooth transition of power, and to designate future crown princes.[11]
This, along with an earlier decree by
- Support within the House of Saud
- Tenure in government
- Tribal affiliations and origins of a candidate's mother
- Religious persona[clarification needed]
- Acceptance by the Ulema
- Support by the merchant community
- Popularity among the general Saudi citizenry.
The Council votes by secret ballot.[12][13]
Influence of the Council
With the promotion of Crown Prince Sultan's three successors deemed automatic, and the King's writ on the subject of the appointment of the second deputy PM (the honorific "deputy crown prince" being much more recent than the position itself). The Council has proved to be little more than a "rubber stamp."[citation needed]
Election of Prince Muqrin
After almost a year with the post of second deputy Prime Minister vacant.
Election of Prince Mohammed bin Nayef
As King Abdullah lay dying, a plot to change the line of succession was underway.
Upon the death of King Abdullah on 23 January 2015, Salman ascended to the throne and Muqrin became crown prince.[1] At the same time, Muhammad bin Nayef, the Interior Minister and a supporter of Salman's, was appointed deputy crown prince, an act that was ratified by the Allegiance Council after the fact. Muhammad bin Nayef is the first grandson of Ibn Saud to enter the official line of succession.[citation needed]
Removal of Crown Prince Muqrin
Normally, the position of Crown Prince was an extremely powerful one, with Faisal, Fahd and Abdullah running the country on behalf of, or sometimes despite, their monarch. This[vague] was not the case of Crown Prince Muqrin, who was frozen out of King Salman's new double cabinet scheme and relegated to mostly ceremonial activities.[18]
Instead, King Salman's son
Removal of Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef
On the morning of 21 June 2017, state television announced that
References
- ^ a b "Saudi King Abdullah dies, new ruler is Salman". Reuters. 22 January 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
- ^ Saudi Arabia's king announces new heirs to throne, BBC, 29 April 2015.
- ^ a b "Mohammed bin Salman named Saudi Arabia's crown prince". Al Jazeera.
- ^ a b Nicole Chavez, Tamara Qiblawi and James Griffiths (21 June 2017). "Saudi Arabia's king replaces nephew with son as heir to throne". CNN.
- ^ a b Raghavan, Sudarsan; Fahim, Kareem (21 June 2017). "Saudi king names son as new crown prince, upending the royal succession line". The Washington Post. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
- ^ a b "Saudi royal decrees announcing Prince Mohammed Bin Salman as the new crown prince". TheNational. Abu Dhabi Media. 21 June 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
- ^ a b c d "The Saudi succession: When kings and princes grow old". The Economist. 15 July 2010. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
- ^ "Warrior King Ibn Saud Dies at 73". The West Australian. 10 November 1953. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
- ^ Alrasheed M. (2002) A History of Saudi Arabia Cambridge University Press; pp. 108–9.
- ^ "After King Fahd: Succession in Saudi Arabia (2nd ed.)". The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Archived from the original on 15 September 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
- ^ Brown, Nathan J. "The Remaking of the Saudi State". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
- ^ "Saudi king details succession law". BBC. 2007. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
- )
- ^ Caryle Murphy. "Saudi Arabia: Prince Muqrin in Line for the Throne". Pulitzer Center. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
- ^ Saudi Research & Marketing (uk) Ltd. "Opinion: Deputy Crown Prince Muqrin and Saudi State Stability". Asharq Al-Awsat. Archived from the original on 26 July 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
- ^ Monday 16 February 2015 09:16 UTC (16 February 2015). "The frantic intrigue of Abdullah's final hours". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Former chief of Saudi Royal Court under house arrest". Middle East Monitor. 14 February 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
- ^ "Saudi reshuffle solidifies Sudairi hold, youthful heirs". Middle East Eye. 29 April 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
- ^ New Deputy Crown Prince got 28 out of 35 at the Saudi Allegiance Council Al Arabiya, 30 April 2015, Retrieved 8 February 2020
- ^ Mazzetti, Ben Hubbard, Mark; Schmitt, Eric (18 July 2017). "Saudi King's Son Plotted Effort to Oust His Rival". The New York Times.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Drug addiction and intrigue: Why Saudi King ordered Mohammed bin Nayef to step aside for younger prince". Hindustan Times. 19 July 2017.