Bonjour
A few weeks back, the King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
died and the Crown Prince Salman became the new ruler of the Kingdom.
He then chose Prince Muqrin as Crown Prince. Salman is 80
and Muqrin 70.
This highlights the quite unusual succession planning of
this kingdom: power is not transmitted from father to son, but from the eldest
brother to the youngest, until the lineage is exhausted.
When the King Al Saud died in 1953, the throne was then
occupied by his eldest son Saud.
In more recent history, we have seen great continuity in the
system.
When Fahd suffered a debilitating stroke in the early 90’s,
his half-brother Abdullah became Regent until he was crowned King upon the
death of Fahd.
See below:
So to be King in Saudi Arabia, you better live longer than
your brothers (and hope your dad does not wed too many wives).
This is a lot of princes and princesses – they must feel
their title is a bit overrated.
More importantly, this helps continuity at the helm of the
kingdom.
Markets like gridlock and this is political gridlock.
For instance, continuity in Saudi Arabia means that they
should continue to keep the supply of oil high (allegedly to crush shale oil
producers in the US but what do we know really?).
To finish, a few pics.
The new King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud salutes
you:
French president Francois Hollande, famed for his sense of
humour, is already delivering the goods:
Some pics of Crown Prince Muqrin:
Traditional wear (do note that he does not dye his facial
hair unlike others):
Cover of the Saudi edition of Cosmopolitan (or GQ?):
Western style – he is a poser:
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