Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

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Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
Prince Talal, son of King Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia
Minister of Communications
In office1952 – April 1955
PredecessorOffice established
SuccessorOffice abolished
Monarch
Born(1931-08-15)15 August 1931
Al Oud Cemetery
, Riyadh
Spouse
  • Umm Faisal
  • Mona Al Solh
  • Moudie bint Abdul Mohsen Alangary
  • Magdah bint Turki Al Sudairi
King Abdulaziz
MotherMunaiyir

Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (

Arabic: طلال بن عبد العزيز آل سعود Ṭalāl bin ʿAbdulʿazīz Āl Saʿūd; 15 August 1931 – 22 December 2018), formerly also called The Red Prince,[1] was a Saudi Arabian politician, dissident, businessman, and philanthropist. A member of the House of Saud, he was notable for his liberal stance, striving for a national constitution, the full rule of law and equality before the law. He was also the leader of Free Princes Movement
in the 1960s.

Early life

King Abdulaziz

Prince Talal was born in

Madawi. It is unknown when Abdulaziz divorced his fourth wife and formally wed Munaiyir.[6] She is reported by her family to have remained illiterate all her life and to have converted to Islam.[6] Munaiyir was regarded by British diplomats in Saudi Arabia as having been one of Abdulaziz's favourite wives.[7] She was as known for her intelligence as for her beauty.[7] She died in December 1991.[8]

During the reign of

King Saud, Talal and Nawwaf became bitter enemies, to the point of contesting their inheritances.[9] Their full sister, Princess Madawi, died in November 2017.[10]

Positions held

Minister of Communications

Prince Talal was made minister of communications when the office was established in 1952.[11] Prince Talal became one of the wealthiest young princes, but his bureau suffered major corruption problems.[12] Then, King Abdulaziz created the ministry of the air force to represent all flight-related matters from his administration.[12] Because Prince Talal and Prince Mishaal contended over who controlled the national airlines, Saudi Arabia was to have two separate fleets.[12] The dispute ended when Prince Talal resigned in April 1955.[12] Later, the ministry of communication was merged with the ministry of finance after Prince Talal's resignation.[12] This allowed King Saud to skip choosing Talal's successor, which would have caused friction in the royal family no matter whom King Saud selected.[12]

Ambassador to France and Spain

Prince Talal served as Saudi ambassador to France and Spain between 1955 and 1957.[13]

Minister of Finance and National Economy

King Saud appointed Prince Talal as minister of finance and national economy in 1960.[14] He was removed from office on 11 September 1961.[15][16] The reason for his dismissal was his proposal to establish a constitution in Saudi Arabia in September 1961. However, King Saud had no intention or plan to reform the political system. Therefore, he forced Prince Talal to resign from the cabinet.[17] First, Prince Muhammed bin Saud[18] and then, his full brother Prince Nawwaf succeeded him in the post.[14]

Controversy

Free Princes Movement

After Prince Talal's palaces were searched by the

Radio Cairo. Later, he, his half-brothers Fawwaz and Badr,[19] and his cousin Fahd bin Saad began to make statements on behalf of the Saudi Liberation Front. After four years, during which King Faisal offered tremendous financial inducements to the Free Princes, the latter were again reconciled with the royal family.[17]

In exile, his own family did not support him and even criticized him for his intensive sympathy with then Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Saudi Arabia's foremost enemy. On 8 September 1963, The Sunday Telegraph reported that Talal's mother, Munaiyir, advised her son that he was behaving foolishly while his younger sister Madawi kept asking him to return home. King Faisal reportedly refused to forgive Prince Talal but privately assured his mother that his assets would be unfrozen and that he could safely return home.[7] On 23 February 1964 Prince Talal returned to Saudi Arabia, and upon his return he issued a statement acknowledging his mistake in criticizing the Saudi government.[20]

Views

In September 1961 Prince Talal called for establishing a

Dhahran Air Base which had been constructed by the US. Although he served in the cabinet led by King Saud, in August 1962 Prince Talal argued that King Saud had no quality to be the ruler of the country in the 20th century.[22] Years later Prince Talal expressed his regret to form a political movement, namely Free Princes, due to the fact that it was commonly considered as a threat to the monarchy.[23]

On 6 June 1999 Prince Talal publicly reported that the Kingdom should "find a smooth way to pass the monarchy to the next generation, or face a power struggle after the era of old royals passes."[9] After the September 11 attacks, he challenged the "potentially very confusing" claim that rulers and religious scholars should jointly decide affairs of state.[24] In 2001 he openly stated his support for the establishment of an elected assembly in Saudi Arabia.[25] In September 2007, he announced his desire to form a political party to advance his goal of liberalizing the country.[26]

In 2009, Prince Talal stated, "King Abdullah is the ruler. If he wills it, it will be done."

Prince Salman and that the Council became ineffective.[21]

Various official and honorary positions

Bust of Talal bin Abdul-Aziz at the WHO building in Geneva, Switzerland

Prince Talal was one of the members of Al Saud Family Council which consisted of royals and was established by Crown Prince Abdullah in June 2000 to discuss private issues such as business activities of princes and marriages of princess to individuals who were not member of House of Saud.[30]

Prince Talal was the chairman of Arab Gulf Program For The United Nations Development (AGFUND), which promoted socioeconomic development in the Middle East.

NGOs based in Cairo[33] and established the Arab Open University.[32] He also supported training of women through AGFUND.[34] Through AGFUND, he provided significant monetary support for UNICEF and UNICEF declared him as its Special Envoy in 1980.[35] He became UNESCO's Special Envoy for Water in 2002 to encourage the development of safe water.[36]

Prince Talal was the president of the Arab Council for Childhood and Development.[37] He also helped create the Mentor Foundation and was an honorary member of its board of trustees.[38] He co-founded the Independent Commission for International Humanitarian Issues.[38] He was also a prominent member of the League for Development of the Pasteur Institute[38] and the honorary president of Saudi Society of Family and Community Medicine.[39]

Philanthropy

According to

Riz Khan, "Prince Talal spent his post-political years developing humanitarian work, shedding the epithet 'The Red Prince' and becoming known as 'The Children's Prince' for his work with UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund."[40]
: 39 

Personal life

Prince Talal married four times. He first married Umm Faisal, who is the mother of Faisal. He later divorced her.[citation needed]

Next, Talal married Mona Al Solh, a daughter of

King Hassan II of Morocco. Prince Abdallah of Morocco was married to another daughter of Riad Al Solh.[43] Prince Talal hired one professor from the University of Houston and an instructor to teach English, psychology and Western civilization to his daughter Reema, who was 18 years old, in Riyadh in 1976.[44]

His third wife was Moudie bint Abdul Mohsen Al Angari.

Sara and Noura. Moudie and Talal were later divorced, and she died in 2008.[45] In July 2012, their daughter Sara sought political asylum in the United Kingdom on the grounds that she was fearful for her safety in Saudi Arabia.[46]

Lastly, Talal was married to Magdah bint Turki Al Sudairi, daughter of former Human Rights Commission President Turki bin Khaled Al Sudairi.[47]

Prince Talal had a total of fifteen children, nine sons and six daughters. His sons are Faisal (died 1991), Al Waleed, Khalid, Turki, Abdulaziz, Abdul Rahman, Mansour, Mohammed and Mashour. His daughters are Reema, Sara, Noura, Al Jawhara, Hibatallah and Maha. From this information, it may be surmised that with his last wife, Magdah, he had six sons and three daughters. This may not be accurate, because he may also have had children by one or more concubines.

Death

Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud died in Riyadh on 22 December 2018.[23][48] His son Prince Abdulaziz bin Talal tweeted in Arabic language: "Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz has passed away on Saturday. May God forgive him and grant him heaven".[49] Funeral prayers were held at Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque, Riyadh, following day.[50]

Ancestry

References

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  3. ^ "The International Who's Who: Royal Families". The International Who's Who. Routledge. Archived from the original on 5 May 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
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  6. ^ a b c d e f g John Rossant (19 March 2002). "The return of Saudi Arabia's red prince". Online Asia Times. Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 1 October 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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  19. ^ Simon Henderson (1994). "After King Fahd" (PDF). Washington Institute. Archived from the original (Policy Paper) on 17 May 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
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  22. ^ a b "Princely Revolt". Time. Vol. 80, no. 8. 24 August 1962.
  23. ^ a b c Naser Al Wasmi (23 December 2018). "Saudi Arabia's Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz dies aged 87". The National. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
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  33. ^ "Civil Society Development". AGFUND. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  34. ^ "Prince Talal heads the meetings of the trustees of CAWTAR and the "Five Sisters" committee in Tunisia". AGFUND. 14 December 2009. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  35. ^ "Partnership with AGFUND". UNICEF. Archived from the original on 25 September 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
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  40. ^ a b c Riz Khan. (2005). Alwaleed: Businessman, Billionaire, Prince. New York: William Morrow, pp. 17-19.
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  43. ^ Samir Bennis (3 April 2019). "The Moroccan-Saudi Rift: The Shattering of a Privileged Political Alliance" (Report). Al Jazeera Centre for Studies. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
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  48. ^ "Saudi Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz passes away aged 87". Al Arabiya. 22 December 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  49. ^ عبدالعزيز بن طلال (22 December 2018). "انتقل الى رحمة الله الامير طلال بن عبدالعزيز غفر الله له واسكنه فسيح جناته اليوم السبت، وسيتقبل ابناءه العزاء "للرجال والنساء" بالفاخرية، ايام الاحد، الاثنين والثلاثاء من بعد صلاة المغرب حتى صلاة العشاءرحمه الله واسكنه فسيح جناته {انا لله وانا اليه راجعون}٠١١٤٤٢٢١١١ للاستفسار". @AAzizTalal (in Arabic). Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  50. ^ Taha Kılıç (26 December 2018). "The Red Prince of Saudi Arabia". Yeni Şafak. Retrieved 1 November 2020.

External links

Media related to Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at Wikimedia Commons