Saud Al Kabeer bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

Saud Al Kabeer bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (Arabic: سعود الكبير بن عبدالعزيز آل سعود Suʿūd Al Kabīr ibn ʿAbdulʿazīz Āl Suʿūd;[1] 1882–1959) was a grandson of Saud bin Faisal bin Turki and a distant nephew and important supporter of King Abdulaziz, founder of Saudi Arabia.[2] Prince Saud was one of the most known Najdi people.[3] Through his marriages he was the brother-in-law, and later he became the son-in-law, of King Abdulaziz. Saud was married for 45 years to King Abdulaziz's eldest sister Noura bint Abdul Rahman, and after her death in 1950 he married the King's daughter Princess Hessa.

Saud Al Kabeer bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
Born1882
Died1959 (aged 76–77)
Spouse
(m. 1905; died 1950)
Hessa bint Abdulaziz
(after 1950)
Issue
List
    • Abdulaziz bin Saud
    • Abdul Rahman bin Saud
    • Mohammed bin Saud
    • Turki bin Saud
    • Fahd bin Saud
    • Sultan bin Saud
    • Abdullah bin Saud
    • Al Jawhara bint Saud
Names
Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Faisal bin Turki
HouseAl Saud
FatherAbdulaziz bin Saud Al Saud
MotherWahda bint Hazam Al Hithlain

Early life and activities edit

Prince Saud was born in Riyadh in 1882.[2][4] He was the eldest son of Abdulaziz bin Saud Al Saud and Wahda bint Hazam Al Hithlain of Ajman.[2] His grandfather, Saud bin Faisal bin Turki, and great-grandfather, Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah, were the rulers of the Second Saudi State.[5]

Following the capture of Riyadh by the Rashidi Emir Muhammad bin Abdullah in 1891 Saud and his relatives were arrested and taken to Qasim.[6] In 1904 Abdulaziz took Qasim where he found that Prince Saud and his five brothers were there under the rule of the Al Rashid.[7] Abdulaziz brought all of his nephews whom he called al araif (Arabic: lost and recollected camels) to Riyadh and made them part of his circle, but gave them no political position.[7][8] Prince Saud, his brothers and a few of his cousins challenged the rule of Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman.[9] In 1910 when Abdulaziz was not in Riyadh, Prince Saud and his brothers left Riyadh and joined the rebellious Ajman tribe with whom they established a base in Hariq and Hauta in the south of Riyadh.[7] In 1912 Abdulaziz attacked on them and asked them either to return to Riyadh with him or to go into exile.[7] Prince Saud and his brother Mohammed chose to return with him, but one of his brothers escaped to Hasa while the others chose to refuge with Sharif Hussein of Hejaz who was the competitor of Abdulaziz.[7]

Following this incident Prince Saud played a vital role in uniting the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, having fought side by side with Abdulaziz in many battles and having led the armies to reclaim many lands. He helped reclaim Ha'il, Jeddah, and Sablah. He played a pivotal role in the battles of the Al Qassim region. He also led the Saudi army to reclaim the west coast of the Arabian peninsula including Rabigh, Yanbu, and Medina. Prince Saud and Abdulaziz's brother Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman led the forces which helped Abdulaziz in the battle of Kanzan in 1915.[10] Only through their assistance Abdulaziz managed to defeat the Al Ajman tribe who surrounded Abdulaziz's forces for almost six months after killing Abdulaziz's younger brother Saad bin Abdul Rahman and wounding Abdulaziz.[10] Later Prince Saud was made governor of Al Qassim.[9] Because he was respected and loved by the people, and also due to his vast knowledge of religion, King Abdulaziz would rely on Prince Saud to dispute tribal issues.

Personal life edit

 
King Abdulaziz, brother-in-law, and then father-in-law, of Prince Saud

Prince Saud married to Noura bint Abdul Rahman, the daughter of Abdul Rahman bin Faisal and sister of King Abdulaziz.[11][12] Saud's brother, Mohammed, also married a daughter of Abdul Rahman, Mounira.[13] And later on after Noura's death, Saud married Hessa, the daughter of King Abdulaziz.[11] Prince Saud and Princess Noura had two daughters, Hassa and Al Jawhara, and a son, Mohammed who was a senior and respected prince due to his powerful tribal knowledge and connections.[14] Princess Al Jawhara was one of King Faisal's spouses.[3] They married in October 1935.[15]

Prince Saud and his wife, Noura, lived in Sharia Palace in Alkharag city.[16] Then, they moved to the newly built Al Shamsiah Palace, outside Riyadh[17] which is in the Al Murabba neighborhood.[11][18]

One of Prince Saud's great-grandsons, Turki bin Saud bin Turki, was executed in October 2016 due to his killing of a friend in 2013.[19]

Prince Saud died in 1959.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ Also spelled Al Kabir, "The Great"
  2. ^ a b c Sharaf Sabri (2001). The House of Saud in Commerce: A Study of Royal Entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia. Delhi: I.S. Publications. p. 213. ISBN 978-81-901254-0-6.
  3. ^ a b Saudi Arabia (PDF). Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. p. 57. ISBN 0844407917. Archived from the original (Country Readers Series) on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  4. ^ a b Falih Al Dhibyani (16 May 2011). "Noura, a trusted sister of Kingdom's founder". Saudi Gazette. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  5. ^ Leslie McLoughlin (1993). Ibn Saud: Founder of A Kingdom. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 206. ISBN 978-1-349-22578-1.
  6. ^ Naila Al Sowayel (1990). An historical analysis of Saudi Arabia's foreign policy in time of crisis: The October 1973 War and the Arab Oil Embargo (PhD thesis). Georgetown University. p. 28. ProQuest 303848353.
  7. ^ a b c d e Nadav Safran (1988). Saudi Arabia: The Ceaseless Quest for Security. Cornell University Press. pp. 33–34. doi:10.7591/9781501718557-008. ISBN 9780801494840. S2CID 242260151.
  8. ^ Alexander Blay Bligh (1981). Succession to the throne in Saudi Arabia. Court Politics in the Twentieth Century (PhD thesis). Columbia University. p. 38. ProQuest 303101806.
  9. ^ a b Mohammad Zaid Al Kahtani (October 2004). The foreign policy of King Abdulaziz (1927-1953): A study in the international relations of an emerging state (PhD thesis). University of Leeds. pp. 87, 89.
  10. ^ a b Talal Sha'yfan Muslat Al Azma (1999). The role of the Ikhwan under 'Abdul'Aziz Al Sa'ud 1916-1934 (PhD thesis). Durham University. p. 65.
  11. ^ a b c "نورة بنت عبدالرحمن.. السيدة الأولى". Al Ayam (in Arabic). 24 May 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  12. ^ Richard Ben Cramer (15 May 1983). "What Hath Allah Wrought?". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia. ProQuest 1814359370. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  13. ^ Madawi Al Rasheed (2010). A History of Saudi Arabia (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 70. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511993510. ISBN 978-0-5217-4754-7.
  14. ^ Louisa Dris-Aït-Hamadouche; Yahia H. Zoubir (Spring 2007). "The US-Saudi Relationship and the Iraq War: The Dialectics of a Dependent Alliance". Journal of Third World Studies. 24 (2): 124. ProQuest 233188283.
  15. ^ "File 11/44 Leading Personalities in Iraq, Iran & Saudi Arabia". Qatar Digital Library. 13 January 1948. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
  16. ^ "Noura bint Abdul Rahman.. Adviser to the King and the Secrets Portfolio". Saudi 24 News. 17 May 2020. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  17. ^ "Murabba Palace: The historical divan of King Abdul Aziz". McClatchy - Tribune Business News. Jeddah. 24 September 2012. ProQuest 1065122513. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  18. ^ H. St. J. B. Philby (Spring 1959). "Riyadh: Ancient and Modern". The Middle East Journal. 13 (2): 129–141. JSTOR 4323104.
  19. ^ Habib Toumi (20 October 2016). "Final hours of executed Saudi prince recounted". Gulf News. Manama. Retrieved 7 September 2020.

External links edit