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HM Fahd of Saudi Arabia, 1960s.jpg Photo by Saudi Aramco –

Top 10 Remarquable Facts about Fahd of Saudi Arabia

He was born in Riyadh in 1920,1921 or 1923. He was the eighth son of King Abdulaziz and his eldest son by Hassa bint Ahmed Al Sudairi.  

Fahd and his six full brothers are known as the Sudairi Seven. Fahd was Hassa’s second son. His elder half-brother Abdullah bin Muhammad was his mother’s only son from her previous marriage to Prince Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman, Fahd’s uncle.

In addition, he became the minister of interior from 1962 to 1975, at the end of King Saud’s reign and throughout King Faisal’s reign.

He was appointed crown prince when his half-brother Khalid became king following the assassination of King Faisal in 1975.

Fahd was viewed as the de facto leader of the country during King Khalid’s reign in part due to the latter’s ill health.

Upon the death of King Khalid in 1982, Fahd ascended to the throne. He is credited for having introduced the Basic Law of Saudi Arabia in 1992.

He suffered a debilitating stroke in 1995, after which he was unable to continue performing his full official duties.

His half-brother Crown Prince Abdullah served as de facto regent of the kingdom and succeeded Fahd as king upon his death in 2005. With a reign of 23 years, Fahd remains the longest-reigning Saudi king.

1. A Member of the Royal Advisory

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His mother Hassa bint Ahmed Al Sudairi ensured he was voted into the royal advisory board as a member.

In 1945, he traveled on his first state visit to San Francisco for the signing of the UN charter. On this trip, he served under Prince Faisal who was at the time Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister. Fahd led his first official state visit in 1953, attending the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on behalf of the House of Saud.

On December 24,  1953, he was appointed as Saudi Arabia’s first education minister.

2. Groomed for Greatness

As a Prince, he led the Saudi delegation to the League of Arab States in 1959, signifying his increasing prominence in the House of Saud and his being groomed for a more significant role.

3. A Member of the Succession Council

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In 1962, he was given the important post of interior minister. As interior minister, he headed the Saudi delegation at a meeting of Arab Heads of State in Egypt in 1965.

 

At the beginning of King Faisal’s reign, Prince Fahd became a member of the council which had been established by the king to guide the succession issues.

4. The Remarkable Escape

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On January 2, 1967, Prince Fahd survived an assassination attempt when an explosion occurred in his private office at the ministry. He was not there during the incident, but the explosion injured nearly 40 staff of the ministry.

5. Named the Prime Minister

Prince Fahd was named second deputy prime minister in 1967 when King Faisal established the office.

The post was created upon the request of Crown Prince Khalid due to the fact that he did not want to continue to preside over the council of ministers. 

6. The Remarkable Leave in London and Spain

He took leave on October 1969 until May 1970. The leave was regarded by Nadav Safran as an indication of a major confrontation in the government.

During his absence which was reported by the officials as medical leave, Prince Fahd stayed in London and then, in Spain where he spent the time on gambling and leisure.

King Faisal sent him both Omar Saqqaf, his envoy, and several letters asking him to return to the country, but Prince Fahd did not follow his request.

7. Named the Deputy Prime Minister

After the murder of King Faisal in 1975 and the accession of King Khalid, Fahd was named the first deputy prime minister and concurrently crown prince. Besides King Khalid, Prince Fahd had three elder half-brothers living at that time. 

Muhammad, Nasser, and Saad. However, Prince Muhammad had denied appointment by King Faisal as crown prince a decade prior, while Princes Nasser and Saad were both considered unsuitable candidates.

By contrast, Prince Fahd served as minister of education from 1954 to 1962 and minister of interior from 1962 until 1975.

The appointment of Prince Fahd as both crown prince and first deputy prime minister made him a much more powerful figure in contrast to the status of King Khalid when he had been crown prince during King Faisal’s reign.

However, King Khalid had an influence over Fahd’s activities and limited his powers, probably due to Fahd’s very clear pro-Western views and hostile approach against Iran and the Shia population of Saudi Arabia. 

During this period Crown Prince Fahd was one of the members of the inner family council led by King Khalid, which included Fahd’s brothers Muhammad, Abdullah, Sultan, and Abdul Muhsin and his uncles Ahmed and Musaid.

8. Crown King of Saudi Arabia

When King Khalid died on 13 June 1982, Fahd succeeded to the throne being the fifth king of Saudi Arabia.

However, the most active period of his life was not during his reign, but when he was Crown Prince. King Fahd adopted the title of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques in 1986, replacing His Majesty, to signify an Islamic rather than secular authority.

9. The Remarkable Oil Price Reduction

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Unlike the reigns of King Faisal and King Khalid, his reign witnessed a significant decrease in the oil price which sharply reduced the oil revenues of Saudi Arabia. 

Due to this Madawi Al Rasheed described the reign of King Fahd as the era of austerity in contrast to the period of affluence experienced by his two predecessors.

Unlike the reigns of King Faisal and King Khalid, his reign witnessed a significant decrease in the oil price which sharply reduced the oil revenues of Saudi Arabia. 

Due to this Madawi Al Rasheed described the reign of King Fahd as the era of austerity in contrast to the period of affluence experienced by his two predecessors.

10. He Supported United Nations

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel walks with Saudi Deputy Minister of Defense Prince Fahd bin Abdullah before departing Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on April 24, 2013 130424-D-BW835-179.jpg Photo by Erin Kirk-Cuomo –

Fahd was a supporter of the United Nations. He supported foreign aid and gave 5.5% of Saudi Arabia’s national income through various funds especially the Saudi Fund for Development and the OPEC Fund for International Development.

He also gave aid to foreign groups such as the Bosnian Muslims in the Yugoslav Wars, as well as the Nicaraguan Contras, providing a million dollars per month from May to December 1984.

King Fahd was also a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause and an opponent of the State of Israel. Towards the beginning of Fahd’s reign, he was a staunch ally of the United States.

However, Fahd distanced himself from the US throughout parts of his reign, declining to allow the US to use Saudi air bases to protect naval convoys after the attack on the USS Stark. In

In 1988, he agreed to buy between fifty and sixty nuclear-payload-capable CSS-2 intermediate-range ballistic missiles.