The Washington Institute for the Near East Policy published a report on the history of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia shows ingenuity in dealing with historical challenges and tensions within the royal family.
According to Saudi accounts, three Saudi states were established, the first lasted until 1818 when the Ottomans occupied Diriyah and executed the ruler, and the second Saudi state lasted from 1824 to 1891, when the ruler was forced to flee to Kuwait, with his eleven-year-old son Abdulaziz. Eleven years later, Abdulaziz led a small group in an attack on Riyadh and took control of it, and Abdul Aziz, the father of the current King Salman, spent thirty years in the conquest of the Arabian Peninsula and was accompanied in part by the religious forces known as the Brotherhood, before establishing the kingdom in 1932 and declaring himself king.
Despite claims that maintaining the Al Saud rule was a simple process, this ruling witnessed tremendous ingenuity in dealing with historical challenges and tensions within the royal family. King Fahd, the elder brother of King Salman, issued a law in 1982, that the Saudi monarch has the power to grants the status of the crown prince, which was surprising for the then Crown Prince Abdullah, who – after becoming a king in 2005, established the Allegiance Commission to increase the number of senior princes swearing allegiance to the new king.
In 2015, when Salman became king, with the support of his son Mohammed, he engaged in ruthless tactics to keep opponents away, locking up two crown princes, whom Abdullah had considered future kings.
There are expectations in February 2022, that a new announcement will be made, with the return of King Salman to Riyadh after spending two years in one of the palaces of NEOM, the future city on the northern coast of the Red Sea, due to the spread of COVID-19.
These changes may lead to opposition from some members of the royal family or by religious leaders or both, as there is a state of resentment among the royal family for being marginalized by the Crown Prince, in addition to this being an opportunity for some to prevent Mohamed bin Salman from becoming king, amid expectations that the royal court will take some measures against this opposition.
As for the United States, these changes and global tensions mean that it is time to engage directly with Mohammed bin Salman. Meanwhile, President Biden only spoke to King Salman about energy, Iran, and Yemen in a phone call made on February 9. In addition, a list of all kings and their biographies was made under the title “Saudi Leaders”, including the name of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
