While poverty and unemployment rates continue to rise in Saudi Arabia, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) continues to spend heavy amounts of money on his private parties.
Well-informed sources revealed that MBS spent millions of dollars on iftar parties during the holy month of Ramadan for his loyal personnel.
MBS ordered that the iftars be prepared in the most luxurious restaurants and hotels in Saudi Arabia.
Although Iftar parties are used to host the most prominent figures in the kingdom, MBS only invited his loyal men and personnel.
This has increased tension within the Saudi royal family.
Sources familiar with the matter revealed that members of the royal family expressed in secret conversations their dissatisfaction with MBS’ policies.
MBS has strengthened his grip on power after arresting prominent princes and ministers, the sources added, noting that many decisions taken since he took office in June 2017 sparked widespread anger within the royal family.
Bin Salman’s extravagant spending since emerging as the main power broker in Saudi Arabia has repeatedly made headlines.
In 2015, MBS bought “the world’s most expensive home” in Paris, France. The Château Louis XIV in Louveciennes outside Paris, is a new-build mansion intended to mimic the extravagant luxury of the nearby Versailles Palace, once the seat of the French royal family.
The 7,000-square-metre property was bought by an undisclosed buyer in 2015 for 275 million euros ($300 million at the time), leading Fortune magazine to call it “the world’s most expensive home.”
The son of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud also bought a $500-million yacht in 2015 and was also reported to be the mystery buyer of a $450-million Leonardo da Vinci painting in 2017.
