Abdullah of Saudi Arabia

Abdullah Of Saudi Arabia

Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman bin Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (Arabic: عبد الله بن عبد العزيز آل سعود‎ ʻAbd Allāh ibn ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz Āl Sa‘ūd, 1 August 1924) is the King of Saudi Arabia. He ascended to the throne on 1 August 2005 upon the death of his half-brother, King Fahd.

Abdullah, like Fahd, was one of the many sons of Ibn Saud, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia. (Abdullah's mother was Fahda bint Asi Al Shuraim, the eighth of Ibn Saud's 16 wives.) Abdullah held important political posts throughout most of his adult life. In 1961 as a young man, he became mayor of Mecca, his first public office. And, in 1962, he was appointed commander of the Saudi Arabian National Guard, a post he was still holding when he became king. He also served as deputy defense minister and was named crown prince when Fahd took the throne in 1982. After King Fahd suffered a serious stroke in 1995, Abdullah became the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia until claiming the throne a decade later.

Abdullah is the sixth king of Saudi Arabia, following King Abdulaziz (Ibn Saud) (1932–53), King Saud (1953–64), King Faisal (1964–75), King Khalid (1975–82), and King Fahd (1982–2005). Upon ascending the throne in 2005, Abdullah named another half-brother, Sultan bin Abdulaziz, as the crown prince. According to a 2001 report, Abdullah "has four wives, seven sons, and 15 daughters". To placate Saudi Islamists, the king disallowed U.S. Iraq War forces to use bases in Saudi Arabia. The king has a personal fortune estimated at US$18 billion, making him the third wealthiest head of state in the world.