Death of prince raises questions over succession to Saudi throne

CROWN Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz al-Saud, the heir to the Saudi throne, has died while undergoing treatment for an illness in New York.

The death of the prince, who was in his eighties, opens questions about the succession in America’s oil-rich ally.

Sultan was the younger half-brother of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, whose health has also been subject to recent speculation and who underwent back surgery last week.

According to a leaked US diplomatic cable from January 2010, the crown prince had been receiving treatment for colon cancer since 2009.

The crown prince, who was also Saudi deputy prime minister and defence minister, had struggled with health issues for years, though officials never confirmed he had cancer.

He underwent surgery in New York in 2009 and spent nearly a year abroad recuperating in the US and at a palace in Agadir, Morocco, before returning to the Kingdom.

The palace said the king, with “deep sorrow” mourns “the loss of his brother and Crown Prince, His Royal Highness Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz al-Saud”.

The Prince of Wales and Foreign Secretary William Hague led tributes yesterday.

Hague said he was sad to hear of the crown prince’s death: “He served the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for many years with great dignity and dedication. His contribution to the prosperity and development of the Kingdom will long be remembered. I would like to offer my sincere condolences to the Kingdom and its people at this sad time.”

The Prince of Wales was said to have sent a personal letter of condolence to the King of Saudi Arabia.

A Clarence House spokesman said: “The Prince of Wales sent a personal letter of condolence to the King of Saudi Arabia expressing his deep sadness at the news.”

The most likely candidate to replace the crown prince as heir to King Abdullah is Prince Nayef, the powerful interior minister in charge of internal security forces, who is said to be closer to Islamic conservatives than the king.

Saudi Arabia has been ruled since 1953 by the sons of its founder, King Abdul-Aziz, who had more than 40 sons by multiple wives.

But that generation is ageing. Nayef is 78, and the youngest of the Abdul-Aziz sons seen as qualified to rule were born in the 1940s.

Anyone who accedes to the throne is likely to maintain the kingdom’s close alliance with the US.

However it would have an internal impact. Abdullah has been a reformer, making cautious changes to improve the position of women – such as granting them the right to vote in elections scheduled for 2015. That has brought a reaction from the ultra-conservative Wahhabi clerics who give the royal family the religious legitimacy needed to rule.

Nayef, in contrast, has a reputation for closer ties to the clerics.

If Nayef is named crown prince, it could stoke tensions between those backing Abdullah’s changes and those opposing any deviation from the kingdom’s strict interpretations of Islam. The crown prince’s funeral will be on Tuesday. He is survived by 32 children from multiple wives.