FILE/VARIOUS: Saudi Arabia's state news agency reports the death of the kingdom's Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz

Record ID: 189820

  • Title: FILE/VARIOUS: Saudi Arabia's state news agency reports the death of the kingdom's Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz
  • Date: 23rd October 2011
  • Summary: SHARM EL-SHEIKH, EGYPT (FILE - JULY 31, 2007) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR "JOLIE VILLA" CONFERENCE CENTRE CROWN PRINCE SULTAN SEATED AT PHOTO OPPORTUNITY WITH EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK
  • Embargoed: 7th November 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Usa, Morocco
  • City:
  • Country: Saudi Arabia Usa Morocco Egypt South Africa
  • Topics: Royalty,Obituaries,Royalty
  • Reuters ID: LVA23QUR4YBQ1Z6DJ45ZC5Q2A1PO
  • Story Text: Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Sultan died on Saturday, the country's royal court confirmed in a statement carried by SPA, the state news agency.
    "With deep sorrow and sadness the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz mourns the death of his brother and his Crown Prince Sultan... who died at dawn this morning Saturday outside the kingdom following an illness."
    Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz was named heir apparent to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia after the death of King Fahd in August 2005.
    One of Fahd's six full brothers, Sultan was born in Riyadh in 1924. He was educated by private tutors and also attended a school for princes.
    In 1947 Sultan's father King Abdulaziz, who conquered most of the Arabian peninsula and established the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, appointed him governor of Riyadh, a key post now held by his younger brother Prince Salman.
    He was appointed agriculture minister in the kingdom's first cabinet in 1953 and was made communications minister two years later.
    In 1962 he was made minister of defence and aviation, a post he held for more than four decades. During this time he spent more than $100 billion modernising the military, doubling the regular armed forces to more than 100,000 men and buying advanced weapons from east and west.
    When Fahd became king in 1982, Sultan was appointed second deputy prime minister and thus front runner to become crown prince after Fahd's death.
    As crown prince to Fahd's successor, King Abdullah, Sultan's power base lay in his control of the regular armed forces. He dampened expectations that the kingdom's first nation-wide elections, a men-only vote for seats on local councils held in 2005, would lead to wider reform.
    He was a keen supporter of close ties with the West, especially the United States, although like the rest of the royal family he distanced himself from the U.S.-led attack on Iraq in 2003.
    As with many of Saudi Arabia's elderly senior princes, concerns over Sultan's health regularly surfaced. He had an intestinal cyst removed in 2005 and visited the Swiss city of Geneva in April 2008 for what were described as routine tests.
    State news agency SPA announced he underwent medical tests in the United States in November 2008 followed by surgery in New York in February 2009. Saudi media described the treatment as successful but did not say what he was treated for.
    Sultan spent eight months convalescing in Morocco, returning to Riyadh in December 2009. He resumed his duties although diplomats said he was less active in public and rarely travelled inside the kingdom following his return.
    Citing a royal court statement, SPA announced the Crown Prince had travelled abroad for a "private holiday" at the end of August for an unspecified time.
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