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Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia since 2017
Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, also known as MbS, is the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, formally serving as Crown Prince and Prime Minister. He is the heir apparent to the Saudi throne, the son of King Salman, and the grandson of the nation's founder, Ibn Saud.
Mohammed bin Salman was born on 31 August 1985, the son of Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz and his third wife, Fahda bint Falah Al Hithlain. He is the eldest of his mother's six children and the eighth child and seventh son of his father. His full siblings include Prince Turki and Defense Minister Prince Khalid. Mohammed holds a bachelor's degree in law from King Saud University, where he graduated second in his class.
Mohammed has stated that "in Islamic law, the head of the Islamic establishment is wali al-amr (Arabic: وَلِيّ الأمر ), the ruler. While Saudi rulers "have historically stayed away from religion", and "outsourced" issues of theology and religious law to "the big beards", traditionally conservative and orthodox religious scholars, Mohammed has "a law degree from King Saud University" and "flaunts his knowledge and dominance over the clerics", according to Graeme Wood. He is "probably the only leader in the Arab world who knows anything about Islamic epistemology and jurisprudence", according to American historian Professor Bernard Haykel. In an interview televised in Saudi Arabia on 25 April 2021, Mohammed criticised the devotion of Saudi religious leaders to Wahhabi doctrines "in language never before used by a Saudi monarch", saying "there are no fixed schools of thought and there is no infallible person", and that fatwas "should be based on the time, place and mindset in which they are issued", rather than regarded as immutable. As of early 2021, Mohammed has "ordered a codification of Saudi laws that would end the power of individual Wahhabi judges to implement" their own interpretation of Sharia. According to Wood, many conservative clerics strongly appear to have succumbed to "good old-fashioned intimidation" by the government to reverse their religious positions and supporting the government line on issues such as "the opening of cinemas and mass layoffs of Wahhabi imams".
After graduating from university, Mohammed spent several years in the private sector before becoming an aide to his father. He worked as a consultant for the Experts Commission, working for the Saudi Cabinet. On 15 December 2009, at the age of 24, he entered politics as a special advisor to his father when the latter was the governor of Riyadh Province. At this time, Mohammed began to move from one position to another, such as secretary-general of the Riyadh Competitive Council, special advisor to the chairman of the board for the King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives, and a member of the board of trustees for Albir Society in the Riyadh region. In October 2011, Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz died. Prince Salman began his ascent to power by becoming second deputy prime minister and minister of defence. He made Mohammed his private advisor.
On 6 April 2008, Mohammed married his first cousin Sara bint Mashour, a daughter of his paternal uncle Mashour bin Abdulaziz. The couple have five children; the first four were named after their grandparents, and the fifth one is named after their great-grandfather King Abdulaziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia. In 2022, The Economist reported that on at least one occasion, Mohammed beat Sara so severely that she required medical treatment. In 2015, Mohammed purchased the Italian-built and Bermuda-registered yacht Serene from Russian vodka tycoon Yuri Shefler for €500 million. In 2015, he purchased the Château Louis XIV in France for over $300 million. In 2018, he was ranked by Forbes as the eighth most powerful person in the world, with a personal wealth of at least $25 billion, although his wealth was also estimated at $3.0 billion the same year. In December 2017, a number of sources reported that Mohammed, using his close associate Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Farhan as an intermediary, had bought Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci; the sale in November at $450 million set a new record price for a work of art. This report has been denied by the auctioneer Christie's, the Saudi Arabian embassy, and the UAE government, which has announced that it is the actual owner of the painting. The painting has not been seen publicly since the auction, but is reported to be on Mohammed's yacht Serene. Bernard Haykel, a prominent historian who speaks regularly to Mohammed, said to the BBC that despite rumours that it is hanging "in the prince's yacht or palace", it is actually stored in Geneva and will be hung in a "very large" museum in the Riyadh that is yet been to be built as intended by him to be an "anchor object" that would attract tourists "just like the Mona Lisa does." Mohammed has been an avid video gamer since childhood. He also enjoys hiking and diving in his spare time.
Biographical detail compiled from Wikipedia and Wikidata, which are edited openly and may be incomplete or out of date. Fleet data is our own. Source →
