Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

Biography

Fahd bin Abdulaziz was born in Riyadh around 1920-1923, the eldest of the seven sons of King Abdulaziz and Hassa bint Ahmed Al Sudairi, later known as the Sudairi Seven. He was educated at the Princes' School in Riyadh and at a religious institute in Mecca. In 1945 he accompanied his brother Faisal to San Francisco for the conference that drew up the United Nations Charter, and in 1953 he represented the royal family at the coronation of Elizabeth II.

At the end of 1953 he became Saudi Arabia's first minister of education, and from 1962 to 1975 he was minister of the interior; in 1967 he was also made second deputy prime minister. After King Faisal was killed in 1975, King Khalid named Fahd crown prince and first deputy prime minister, and because of Khalid's poor health he was widely seen as the kingdom's effective ruler. In 1981 he put forward a Middle East peace plan that the Arab League adopted the following year.

Fahd became king on Khalid's death on 13 June 1982 and in 1986 adopted the title Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. His reign coincided with low oil prices and austerity. He backed Iraq financially in its war with Iran, supported the 1989 Taif Agreement that ended the Lebanese civil war, and after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 allowed US-led coalition forces to base themselves in the kingdom, a decision that drew strong domestic criticism. In 1992 he issued the Basic Law, the kingdom's first written framework of government, and a decree changing the rules of royal succession.

A stroke in November 1995 left him largely incapacitated, and from 1996 Crown Prince Abdullah ran the government in practice. Fahd died on 1 August 2005 after a reign of 23 years, the longest of any Saudi king, and was succeeded by Abdullah.