Fahda bint Saud Al Saud ( ''Fahada bint Su'ūd Āl Su'ūd''; born 1953) is a Saudi royal and artist. She is one of the grandchildren 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 and one of the children of King Saud.

Early life and education

Fahda was born in 1953 to

King Saud Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (; 15 January 1902 – 23 February 1969) was King of Saudi Arabia from 9 November 1953 until his abdication on 2 November 1964. During his reign, he served as Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 1953 to 1954 a ...

and one of his wives Jamila bint Assad bin Ibrahim Al Mirhi from

Latakia Latakia (; ; Syrian Arabic, Syrian pronunciation: ) is the principal port city of Syria and capital city of the Latakia Governorate located on the Mediterranean coast. Historically, it has also been known as Laodicea in Syria or Laodicea ad Mar ...

, Syria. Fahda received primary educational at the Karimat High School in

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 ...

until 1964. Then in 1969, she graduated from the Beirut Evangelical School for girls (BESG) in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

. She received her bachelor's degree in political science from Beirut College for Women (now the

Lebanese American University The Lebanese American University (LAU; ) is a secular private American university with campuses in Beirut, Byblos, and New York. It is chartered by the board of regents of the University of the State of New York and is recognized by the Lebane ...

) in 1974. She then obtained a master's degree in political sciences from the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB; ) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its main campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, autonomous board of trustees and offers programs le ...

in 1976. She then studied at the

School of Oriental and African Studies The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...

for one year. There she participated in a non-degree research courses in the department of political science. Later, she moved to Paris to study art and was trained by late Iraqi artist Issam Al Said on Islamic geometric patterns.

Activities

Princess Fahda is the founder as well as the head of publishing and archiving at the King Saud Library which collects, archives, and publishes the history and legacy of King Saud. Princess Fahda also sits as the president of Al Faisaliyya Women's Welfare Society in Jeddah which she has chaired for over two decades, as well as head of Sleysla, a Cooperative Society, specialized in modernizing Saudi handy crafts and fashion in Jeddah using locally sourced raw materials with locally inspired traditional designs and employing local women to produce them. Princess Fahda participated in some exhibitions that have

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

focus through her

watercolours Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the S ...

. One of such exhibitions was organized by the Royal Society of Fine Arts in Jordan and the Pan-Mediterranean Women Artists Network of Greece to eliminate the negative stereotypes concerning women across the Islamic world. The first exhibition was in Australia under the organization of the Interfaith Centre of Melbourne from 25 January to 23 March 2008. Princess Fahda's watercolour work in this exhibition entitled Three Women is a visual representation of the Japanese Golden Rule "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" so dominant in the Islamic world. She herself also organized exhibitions mainly concerning with her father's memory. Additionally, Princess Fahda supported the exhibitions of other artists in Saudi Arabia, for instance that of Farha Sayeed, an Indian artist who focuses on decoration of eggs. Princess Fahda painted the pictures of the book dedicated to her father published by King Saud foundation that was seen as part of the rehabilitation of King Saud. She is president of the Al Faisaliyah women's welfare society, that is a Jeddah-based organization mainly targeting women.

Views

Princess Fahda wrote several articles on different topics in leading Saudi newspapers such as ''

Okaz ''Okaz'' () is an Arabic Saudi Arabian daily newspaper located in Jeddah. The paper was launched in 1960 and its sister publication is '' Saudi Gazette''. The paper is simultaneously printed in both Riyadh and Jeddah and has offices all over Sau ...

'' and ''

Arab News ''Arab News'' is an English-language daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia. It is published from Riyadh. The target audiences of the paper, which is published in broadsheet format, are businesspeople, executives and diplomats. At least as ...

'', relating to social issues and Saudi history. In February 2007, Fahda's article entitled "Saudi women's concerns" was published in '' Al Hayat''. There Princess Fahda clearly expressed that debate continuing about the rights of women in Saudi society has been "pivotal to the nation's renaissance." However, she is described as a traditionalist, but not a reactionary. She supports reform towards women, but largely depending on the country's own values, including religious values. An interview with Fahda was among those included in Mona Almunajjed's book entitled ''Saudi Women Speak: 24 Remarkable Women Tell Their Success Stories'', published in 2011 by the Arab Institute for Research and Publishing in

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

and

Personal life

Fahda bint Saud has one child, a son named Abdulaziz. She divorced from his father, Baron Abdullah Kurt Bergstrøm, a Danish national who changed his first name to Abdullah when converting to Islam. Abdullah Bergstrøm died in 2000.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saud, Fahda Saud Fahda Fahda Fahda Fahda 1951 births American University of Beirut alumni Beirut College for Women alumni Fahda Lebanese American University alumni Living people Fahda Saudi Arabian activists Watercolorists Women watercolorists