An ambitious and diligent Crown Prince
Sydney Morning Herald - 26 October 2010
The death of Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz highlights the dangers of a power vacuum in Saudi Arabia, which is responsible for 25 per cent of the world's oil. The kingdom is ruled by a frail gerontocracy, despite its oil wealth and political vulnerability. Sultan was the half-brother of the 87-year-old King Abdullah.
Sultan was born in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, probably in 1930, although some sources say 1924. He was the second of the elite ''Sudairi seven'', the sons of the kingdom's founder, King Abdul Aziz Al Saud (commonly known as Ibn Saud) by his wife Hussa bint Ahmad al-Sudairi. Ibn Saud had some 45 recorded sons by as many as 32 wives, of whom Hussa was pre-eminent.
...He joined the cabinet in 1953, the year that Ibn Saud died and was succeeded as king by his son Saud. Sultan became agriculture minister, helping to settle Saudi Arabia's bedouin on modern farms and was considered hardworking and pugnacious. In 1955, he was appointed communications minister, a post he held until 1962. That year, Sultan became the kingdom's defence and aviation minister. When it became clear to the princes that King Saud was a failure, Sultan pressed for his abdication in favour of the charismatic Faisal, demanding that it should be brought about by force, if necessary. Saud stepped down in March 1964, and Faisal became king that November.
...People who knew Sultan praised his ''strategic vision, the capacity to think big'', in particular after the 1973-74 oil price rises...Sultan had a reputation for a fierce temper but his habit of working deep into the night won him the nickname of ''bulbul'' (nightingale). He was both a conservative and political moderate.
For some time, he was said to have suffered from ill health, having been diagnosed with colon cancer in 2004 and latterly affected by Alzheimer's disease.
Sultan had some 32 children by 10 wives.
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