Abdulaziz bin Fahd Al Saud ( ''ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz bin Fahd Āl Suʿūd'') is a Saudi prince, a son of former

King Fahd Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (; 1920, 1921 or 1923 – 1 August 2005) was King of Saudi Arabia, King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 13 June 1982 until his death in 2005. Prior to his ascension, he was Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia from 1 ...

, and one of the grandsons of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

's founder

King Abdulaziz Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud (; 15 January 1875Ibn Saud's birth year has been a source of debate. It is generally accepted as 1876, although a few sources give it as 1880. According to British author Robert Lacey's book ''The Kingdom'', ...

Early life and education

His mother Al Jawhara bint Ibrahim Al Ibrahim belongs to the wealthy Al Ibrahim family. Abdulaziz bin Fahd received a bachelor of arts degree in administrative sciences from

King Saud University King Saud University (KSU, ) is a public university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Established in 1957 by King Saud bin Abdulalziz to address the country's skilled worker shortage, it is the first university in Saudi Arabia. It was known as Riyadh U ...

Professional experience

Prince Abdulaziz was first appointed as minister of state without portfolio in May 1998. Then, he was made head of the Office of the Council of Ministers in January 2000, when he was 28 years old. It was reported that after

's death, he began to live in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and came to

to participate in the meetings of the Council of Ministers. On 26 June 2011, he was relieved from his position as head of the court of Cabinet affairs by a royal decree. It was declared that he resigned from his posts of minister of State and member of the Council of Ministers at his own request in June 2011.

Business activities

His ties with Saudi Oger were well known in

. The company was founded by

Rafik Hariri Rafic Bahaa El Deen al-Hariri (; 1 November 1944 – 14 February 2005) was a Lebanese businessman and politician who served as prime minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 to 2004. Hariri headed five cabinets during his tenu ...

, who built Saudi Oger into a large company with the assistance of

. Hariri said 'The meat on my shoulder is from King Fahd,’ according to As'ad Abu Khalil, a professor of political science at California State University Stanislaus, who has written several books and runs the blog The Angry Arab News Service. Hariri, also a former prime minister of

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, was assassinated in 2005. His son,

Saad Hariri Saad El-Din Rafik Al-Hariri ( ; born 18 April 1970) is a Lebanese people, Lebanese businessman and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Lebanon, prime minister of Lebanon from 2009 to 2011 and 2016 to 2020. The son of Rafic Hariri, he ...

, took over Saudi Oger and became Lebanon’s prime minister for 14 months before he was ousted in 2011. Saad Hariri and Prince Abdulaziz are known to be close. Abdulaziz bin Fahd owned fifty per cent of the MBC, of which the remainder is owned by his maternal uncle Waleed bin Ibrahim al Ibrahim. It is reported that Prince Abdulaziz dealt with both the profits and the ideology of MBC Channels, including

al Arabiya Arabiya (, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is a Saudi state-owned international Arabic news television channel. It is based in Riyadh and is a subsidiary of MBC Group. The channel is a flagship of the media c ...

. It emerged in a

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the superior court in the Judiciary of New York. It is vested with unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction, although in many counties outside New York City it acts primarily as a court of civil ju ...

affidavit that he was the secret owner of a $1 billion property portfolio in the US which owns the American headquarters of the oil giant BP and the defence contractor

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

. In January 2002, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' newspaper valued the portfolio at £4 billion. The affidavit, which was subsequently partially sealed by the judge but had already become available on internet blogs, stated that the properties were being managed by a group which included Sheikh Majid Al Ibrahim, the prince’s maternal uncle, and that total control of the portfolio was ultimately seized by Interventure Capital Group and Interventure Advisers, both of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. According to a press release issued by Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Interventure Capital Group is run by Jaber Al Ibrahim and is an adviser to Naseel Holding Company, the Al Ibrahim family investment vehicle chaired by Sheikh Majid Al Ibrahim. According to a report in ''The Daily Telegraph'' in October 2010, Interventure Capital Group is also behind another major portfolio of properties which had been controlled by a UK-based company, StratREAL. Assets purchased by StratREAL on behalf of Prince Abdulaziz bin Fahd included Fifth Street Towers, a Minneapolis office complex, for $294 million in 2007. In May 2012, following a foreclosure on the complex for mortgage default, Fifth Street Towers was sold at a sheriff's auction for $1 over the outstanding debt of $110 million. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' reported in July 2013 that Abdulaziz was offering to sell for £100 million his mansion at 5 Palace Green, on London's Kensington Palace Gardens (nicknamed "Billionaires' Row").Billionaire Saudi's £100m London home up for sale
''

'', 29 July 2013

Alliances

Abdulaziz bin Fahd was previously one of King Abdullah's closest aides. However, later, he seemed to have had a falling out with the monarch and to have been close to his uncle, the late Crown Prince Nayef.

Fortune

Abdulaziz received exactly half of all profits of the successful Middle East Broadcasting Corporation (MBC). He had a number of palaces in Saudi Arabia and around various other parts of the world which have cost over $2 billion which include: * London Mansion on the Billionaire's row in

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, now for sale at £100 million. * A very large private stately residential complex with the replica of

Alhambra The Alhambra (, ; ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the historic Muslim world, Islamic world. Additionally, the ...

and several other famous forts set within well maintained splendid gardens covering an area of 134 acres in the exclusive area overlooking Wadi Hanifa in Riyadh. * Massive farm near Janadriya covering an area of 715 acres or about 2.89 square kilometers at the northern outskirts of

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

. Satellite photos reveal large swimming pools, luxury tents and its own water and sewage treatment facility set within a large date farm. * In

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

he has several palaces with private yacht berths and each palace has more than twenty guest houses . In addition, he reportedly owned "the Pyramid House" on Hillcrest Road in

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hills ...

Personal life

Abdulaziz bin Fahd married Al Anoud bint Faisal Al Saud in December 2010. His wife is a granddaughter of the late

Sultan bin Abdulaziz Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (c. 5 January 1931 – 22 October 2011) (, ''Sulṭān ibn ʿAbdulʿazīz Āl Suʿūd''), called ''The generous Sultan'' (, ''Sulṭan al Khair'') in Saudi Arabia, was the Saudi defense minister from 1963 to 201 ...

and of Mishaal bin Abdulaziz. He dealt with camel racing in Saudi Arabia. His camels won the race organized in the Janadriyah festival in 2011. The Prince owns a

Boeing 777 The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long-range wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The 777 is the world's largest twinjet and the most-built wide-body airliner. ...

, a Boeing 737 Business Jet and a Canadair Challenger which he uses frequently for pleasure travel.

2017 purge

Before Abdulaziz was himself purged, he was used in the kidnapping of Sultan bin Turki II bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Fate

The fate of Prince Abdulaziz bin Fahd is uncertain. There were rumours that Abdulaziz, age 46, was killed by a

death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings, massacres, or enforced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in w ...

while resisting arrest, but the Saudi information ministry released a statement saying that the prince was "alive and well." In November 2018, Prince Nawaf bin Faisal tweeted a video showing that Abdulaziz bin Fahd is still alive.

Ancestry

References

External links

House of Saud Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saud, Abdulaziz Fahd Al 20th-century Saudi Arabian businesspeople 21st-century Saudi Arabian businesspeople 21st-century Saudi Arabian politicians

Abdulaziz Abdulaziz (; ; 8 February 18304 June 1876) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 25 June 1861 to 30 May 1876, when he was overthrown in a government coup. He was a son of Sultan Mahmud II and succeeded his brother Abdulmejid I in 1861. Ab ...

Living people King Saud University alumni State ministers of Saudi Arabia Abdulaziz Fahd Sons of kings Year of birth missing (living people)