| Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud سلطان بن عبد العزيز آل سعود |
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|---|---|
| Crown Prince First Deputy Prime Minister Minister of Defense |
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| Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz | |
| Full name | |
| Sultan bin Abdul Aziz bin Abdul-Rahman bin Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Saud | |
| House | House of Saud |
| Father | King Abdul-Aziz |
| Mother | Princess Hessa Al-Sudairi |
| Born | 30 December 1929 Riyadh, Kingdom of Nejd and Hejaz |
| Died | 22 October 2011 (aged 81) New York City, United States |
| Burial | 26 October 2011 Al-Oud cemetery, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| Religion | Islam |
Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud "Sultan Al-Khair" (Arabic: سلطان بن عبدالعزيز آل سعود) ( 30 December 1929[1] – 22 October 2011[2]) was the crown prince of Saudi Arabia at the time of his death. He served as the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense and Aviation. He was one of the Sudairi Seven. Sultan was first in the Saudi line of succession.[3][4]
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Sultan was born in Riyadh. He was the 15th son of King Abdul-Aziz and his mother was Princess Hassa Al-Sudairi (1900–1969).
Sultan, along with many of his brothers, received his early education in religion, modern culture, and diplomacy at the royal court. He became Governor of Riyadh in 1947. In 1947, he oversaw ARAMCO's construction of the Kingdom's rail link between Dammam and Riyadh. He became Minister of Agriculture in 1953 and Minister of Transport in 1955.
Although his direct military experience was brief, heading the Royal Guard in Riyadh in the early 50s, he felt a lifelong connection to the military and the cause of Saudi independence from an early age.[5]
Major General Carl Von Horn, Swedish commander of the UN observer mission during the Yemeni civil war, described the Prince as "a volatile and emotional young man" in the early days.[5]
In 1962, King Faisal appointed Sultan as Minister of Defense and Aviation. He presided over the development of the Saudi armed forces.
Sultan purchased U.S. tanks, fighter planes, missiles and AWACS (airborne warning and control systems). However, as a result of problems assimilating technology within its armed forces, a relatively high proportion of the military equipment is stored or under maintenance, despite a large portion of Saudi's $34 billion defense budget being spent on maintaining military equipment.[6] Sultan allegedly became extraordinarily wealthy from kickbacks by Western businesses that handled multibillion-dollar defense contracts.[7] He was involved in many scandals, including the Al-Yamamah deal.[8] However, his influence remained unhindered until his health began to deteriorate.[8] During his tenure, Saudi Arabia became the largest importer of U.S. arms. He was a strong proponent of U.S.-Saudi partnership.[9]
As well, Sultan authorized a deal with the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) in 1965. His program, called Operation Magic Carpet, traded £16 million for six second-hand Lightnings, six Hawker Hunters, and a set of missile launchers going to Royal Saudi Air Force. Geoffrey Edwards served as the official intermediary. British pilots also came over, privately contracted.[5]
In 1996, Sultan opposed Pentagon plans to relocate U.S. troops to safer locations after the Dhahran complex bombings.[10]
In 1982, King Fahd appointed Sultan as Second Deputy Prime Minister.
Sultan was an expert on the Yemen civil war and Soviet involvement in the Horn of Africa in 1985.[11]
Sultan had been rumored to have had colon cancer in 2003. A foreign correspondent was forced to leave the country after reporting his health problems.[12]
| Styles of Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud |
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|---|---|
| Reference style | His Royal Highness[13] |
| Spoken style | Your Royal Highness |
On 1 August 2005, Sultan was designated heir apparent despite having a discord with King Abdullah.[14]
A leaked March 2009 diplomatic cable from WikiLeaks stated that U.S. diplomats viewed Sultan as "for all intents and purposes incapacitated".[15] He was possibly suffering dementia, specifically Alzheimer's disease.[16]
In February 2009, Sultan underwent surgery in New York. He then convalesced at Agadir, Morocco. He went back to Saudi Arabia, but soon returned to Morocco in August. During his vacation, the Saudi cabinet increased officer salaries, a traditional domain of Sultan.[17][18]
In 2009, King Abdullah took charge of all defense purchases and reduced the power of the Defense Ministry. In October 2010, Abdullah personally conducted much of the negotiations for the U.S. arms package worth over $60 billion.[19]
In November 2010, Sultan received Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri to discuss the future of Lebanon's government.[20] He had been receiving treatment for the previous two years for what analysts and diplomats believed to be cancer.[21] At the end of the month, he returned to Saudi Arabia because King Abdullah left for the United States for surgery.[22] His return was seen as a legal formality necessary under Saudi law, which stipulates that only one of the kingdom's top two officials can be abroad at a given time.[23]
Sultan was Saudi Arabia's Inspector General. He was Chairman of the Board of Saudi Arabia's national airline, Saudi Arabian Airlines. As Chairman, he approved a ban on smoking inside all Saudi airports.[24] In 1986, he founded the Saudi National Commission for Wildlife Conservation.[25] He was the founder and patron of the Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz International Prize for Water, a bi-annual international scientific award for water research.[26]
Sultan had thirty-two children by his multiple wives. His son Prince Khalid was a key Saudi general in the 1991 Gulf War. After Prince Sultan's death, he was assigned as the deputy Minister of Defence. .[5] His son Prince Bandar was Ambassador to the United States from 1983 to 2005. His son Fahd is Deputy President of Sport and Welfare. His other sons are Faisal, Turki, Salman, Naif, Bader, Saud, Ahmad,Nawwaf and Mansour. one of his daughters, Reema, is married to the son of the Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz.
In 2004, Sultan was diagnosed with colon cancer and underwent several corrective surgeries. He underwent an operation to remove an intestinal polyp.[27] In April 2009, he started to suffer from Alzheimer's disease.[28][29] He spent several months in New York City at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital and underwent surgery. He then convalesced at Agadir, Morocco, and remained abroad most of the time, undergoing medical treatments.[30]
The Prince took a lifetime anti-communist and anti-Soviet view, based on his dislike of Soviet state atheism as well as Soviet interest in Gulf oil and access to ports that he felt risked Saudi independence. He rebuked U.S. President Jimmy Carter for what the Prince saw as "pusillanimity" in the face of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.[5]
According to a statement made by the Saudi Royal court on Saturday, 22 October 2011, Sultan died at dawn of an unspecified illness. According to media reports, Sultan had been battling cancer for some years and had been seeking medical treatment in the United States since June 2011.[31][32] According to unnamed U.S. officials cited by the The New York Times, he died at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan.[33] His funeral was held in Riyadh on 26 October 2011.[31]