The king of Saudi Arabia, officially the king of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (; ''Malik al-Mamlakat al-ʿArabiyat as-Suʿūdiyya''), is

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

and of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who holds absolute power. He is the head of the Saudi Arabian royal family, the

House of Saud The House of Saud ( ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is composed of the descendants of Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the Emirate of Diriyah, known as the First Saudi State, (1727–1818), and his brothers, though the ruling ...

. The king is the commander-in-chief of the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces and the head of the Saudi national honors system. The king is called the "

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques His Majesty the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (abbreviated as CTHM; ), or Protector of the Two Holy Cities, is a Royal and noble styles, royal style that has been used officially by the King of Saudi Arabia, monarchs of Saudi Arabia since 19 ...

" (; ''Khadim al-Haramayn aš-Šarīfayn''), a title that signifies Saudi Arabia's jurisdiction over the mosques of

Masjid al-Haram Masjid al-Haram (), also known as the Sacred Mosque or the Great Mosque of Mecca, is considered to be the most significant mosque in Islam. It encloses the vicinity of the Kaaba in Mecca, in the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia. It is among the ...

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

. The title has been used many times through the history of Islam. The first Saudi king to use the title was Faisal; however, King Khalid did not use the title after him. In 1986,

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 ...

replaced " His Majesty" with the title of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and it has been since used by both King Abdullah and King Salman. The king has been named the most powerful and influential Muslim and Arab leader in the world according to the Muslim 500.

History

King Abdulaziz Al Saud, known in the West as Ibn Saud, regained his patrimony, which is known as today's Saudi Arabia in 1902. Restoring his family as emirs of Emirate of Riyadh, he then established the Sultanate of Nejd as his headquarters in 1922. Following the establishment of Riyadh as the capital of his state, Ibn Saud then captured

Hejaz Hejaz is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al Bahah, Al-B ...

in 1925. Ibn Saud proclaimed his dominions as the Sultanate of Nejd in 1921, shortly before completing the unification of the region. He was proclaimed king (

malik Malik (; ; ; variously Romanized ''Mallik'', ''Melik'', ''Malka'', ''Malek'', ''Maleek'', ''Malick'', ''Mallick'', ''Melekh'') is the Semitic term translating to "king", recorded in East Semitic and Arabic, and as mlk in Northwest Semitic d ...

) of

in 1926, and raised Nejd to a kingdom as well in 1927. For the next five years, Ibn Saud administered the two parts of his realm, the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd as separate units. On 23 September 1932, he formally united his territories into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Succession

The kings since Ibn Saud's death have all been his sons, and all likely immediate successors to the reigning King Salman will be from among his progeny. This makes the Saudi monarchy quite distinct from Western monarchies, which usually feature large, clearly defined royal families and orders of succession, and use the

primogeniture Primogeniture () is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn Legitimacy (family law), legitimate child to inheritance, inherit all or most of their parent's estate (law), estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some childre ...

system of succession. Muhammad bin Nayef was the first grandson of Ibn Saud to be in the line of succession before being deposed from the position of

Crown Prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

by a royal decree in 2017.

Other functions

The king of Saudi Arabia is also considered the head of the

and, until 2021, the

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. The

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

was also the "

deputy prime minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

" until 2021 and is currently prime minister. The kings after Faisal have named a "second deputy prime minister" as the subsequent heir after the crown prince.

Opposition

Criticism of the king, religious leaders, or government is not allowed and can generally mean jail time for the critics. It can also result in death.

Kings of Saudi Arabia (present)

This is a list of rulers 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 ...

, a kingdom on the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

Sheikhdom of Diriyah

* 1446–1727 Sheikhdom of Diriyah

First Saudi State

* 1727-1818 Emirate of Diriyah

Second Saudi State

* 1823-1891 Emirate of Nejd

Third Saudi State (1902–present)

*1902 - 1913: Emirate of Riyadh *1913 - 1921: Emirate of Nejd and Hasa *1921 - 1926: Sultanate of Nejd *1926 - 1932: Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd *1932–present: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Genealogy

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:30 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1720 till:2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1720 Colors = id:Imam value:green legend: Imam Legend = columns:4 left:150 top:24 columnwidth:100 TextData = pos:(20,27) textcolor:black fontsize:M text:"Title:" BarData = barset:PM PlotData= align:left fontsize:S shift:(3,-4) anchor:from width:15 barset:PM from: 1720 till: 1725 color:Imam text:" Saud I" fontsize:10 from: 1744 till: 1765 color:Imam text:" Muhammad I" fontsize:10 from: 1765 till: 1803 color:Imam text:" Abdulaziz I" fontsize:10 from: 1803 till: 1814 color:Imam text:" Saud II" fontsize:10 from: 1814 till: 1818 color:Imam text:" Abdullah I" fontsize:10 from: 1823 till: 1834 color:Imam text:" Turki" fontsize:10 from: 1834 till: 1834 color:Imam text:" Mishari" fontsize:10 from: 1834 till: 1838 color:Imam text:" Faisal I" fontsize:10 from: 1838 till: 1841 color:Imam text:" Khalid I" fontsize:10 from: 1841 till: 1843 color:Imam text:" Abdullah II" fontsize:10 from: 1843 till: 1865 color:Imam text:" Faisal I" fontsize:10 from: 1865 till: 1871 color:Imam text:" Abdullah II" fontsize:10 from: 1871 till: 1871 color:Imam text:" Saud III" fontsize:10 from: 1871 till: 1873 color:Imam text:" Abdullah II" fontsize:10 from: 1873 till: 1875 color:Imam text:" Saud III" fontsize:10 from: 1875 till: 1876 color:Imam text:" AbdulRahman" fontsize:10 from: 1876 till: 1889 color:Imam text:" Abdullah II" fontsize:10 from: 1889 till: 1891 color:Imam text:" AbdulRahman">" fontsize:10 from: 1902 till: 1953 color:Imam text:" Abdulaziz II" fontsize:10 from: 1953 till: 1964 color:Imam text:" Saud IV" fontsize:10 from: 1964 till: 1975 color:Imam text:" Faisal II" fontsize:10 from: 1975 till: 1982 color:Imam text:" Khalid II" fontsize:10 from: 1982 till: 2005 color:Imam text:" Fahd" fontsize:10 from: 2005 till: 2015 color:Imam text:" Abdullah IV" fontsize:10 from: 2015 till: end color:Imam text:" Salman" fontsize:10

Standard of the Kingdom

The Royal Standard consists of a green flag, with an Arabic inscription and a sword featured in white, and with the Emblem of Saudi Arabia, national emblem embroidered in gold in the lower right canton of the year 1973. File:Royal Standard of Saudi Arabia.svg, Royal Flag of the King
(Ratio: 2:3) File:Royal Standard of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.svg, Royal Standard of the King
(Ratio: 1:1) The script on the flag is written in the Thuluth script. It is the '' shahada'' or Islamic declaration of faith: : : ' :''There is no god but

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

: Muhammad is the Messenger of God.'' File:Royal Flag of Saudi Arabia (1938-1953).svg, Royal Flag of the King (1938-1953)
(Ratio: 2:3) File:Royal Banner of Saudi Arabia (1938-1953).svg, Royal Banner of the King (1938-1953)
(Ratio: 12:25) File:Royal Standard of Saudi Arabia (1938-1953).svg, Royal Standard of the King (1938-1953)
(Ratio: 1:1) File:Royal Flag of Saudi Arabia (1953-1964).svg, Royal Flag of the King (1953-1964)
(Ratio: 2:3) File:Royal Standard of Saudi Arabia (1953-1964).svg, Royal Standard of the King (1953-1964)
(Ratio: 1:1) File:Royal Flag of Saudi Arabia (1964-1973).svg, Royal Flag of the King (1964-1973)
(Ratio: 2:3) File:Royal Standard of Saudi Arabia (1964-1973).svg, Royal Standard of the King (1964-1973)
(Ratio: 1:1)

Current heir-presumptive

: Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, born ; son of King Salman and Fahda bint Falah Al Hithlain.

Royal Standard

* The Royal Flag consists of a green flag, with an

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

inscription and a sword featured in white, and with the national emblem embroidered in gold in the lower right canton. Royal Standard of Saudi Arabia

The script on the flag is written in the Thuluth script. It is the '' shahada'' or Islamic declaration of faith: : : ' : ''There is no god but

: Muhammad is the Messenger of God."'' * The Royal Standard consists of a green flag, in the center of the national emblem embroidered with gold.

References

assassinated. {{Portal bar, Saudi Arabia, Monarchy, Politics History of Saudi Arabia Saudi Rulers Rulers Rulers Lists of names