Saudi names second heir to the throne

Prince Muqrin Bin Abdul Aziz has been named deputy Crown Prince making him officially second inline to succeed King Abdullah and Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, the Saudi Royal Court announced yesterday. The statement said Prince Muqrin’s title will remain as Second Deputy Prime Minister.

“King Abdullah appoints Prince Muqrin Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud as King in case the positions of king and crown prince became vacant,” the Royal Court said.

Prince Muqrin rising up the ranks:

Born in September 15, 1945
He is the 35th and the youngest surviving son of King Abdul Aziz
Went to elementary school in the capital Riyadh
Joined the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) in 1964
He graduated from the Britain’s RAF College in Cranwell with a degree in aeronautics in 1968
He was named commander of the RSAF’s 2nd air squadron in 1970
He worked in the air force until 1980
From 1980 to 1999 he served as the governor of Hail province, northern Saudi
In November 1999 he became governor of Madina
Prince Muqrin was named director general of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence agency Al-Mukhabarat Al-A’amah in October 2005
On July 2012, he was given the role of special envoy to King Abdullah
In February 2013 Prince Muqrin was appointed second deputy prime minister by King Abdullah

Informed Saudi sources said earlier that King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz who is 90 years old ordered the Allegiance Council to approve Prince Muqrin’s new title as Crown Prince if Prince Salman became King and to name Prince Miteb Bin Abdullah as second deputy prime minister instead of Prince Muqrin.

The sources said “nearly two-thirds of the Allegiance Council’s 34 members approved the King’s decision.”

The sources pointed out that Prince Salman; 79 years old “insisted to appoint his son, Prince Mohammed as defence minister”; a post he currently occupies and to be named as deputy Crown Prince.

Prince Muqrin, 68, is the youngest son of the Kingdom’s founder King Abdul Aziz Al Saud.

This appointment paves the way for the second and third generation Al-Sauds to assume sensitive positions in the royal family. Currently, only three members of the second generation occupy such posts; Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Minister of Foreign Affairs for 40 years, Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef, Interior Minister since November 2012 and Prince Miteb Bin Abdullah, Minister of the National Guard.

King Abdullah formed the Allegiance Council, made up of his sons and grandsons and led by his half-brother Prince Mishaal Bin Abdul Aziz, a few years ago to secure the transfer of power within the Al-Saud family.

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