Fahd of Saudi Arabia

Fahd bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud ({{lang-ar|فهد بن عبد العزيز آل سعود}}, b.1923 – August 1, 2005) was the king and prime minister of Saudi Arabia and leader of the House of Saud. One of thirty-seven sons of Saudi founder Ibn Saud, and the fourth of his five sons who have ruled the Kingdom (Saud, Faisal, Khalid, Fahd, and Abdullah), Fahd ascended to the throne on the death of his half-brother, King Khalid, on June 13, 1982.

Liberal reputation

Numerous sources reported on Fahd's famously liberal youth, although this topic was never discussed by official Saudi media. Fahd's obituary by the BBC noted "he had a reputation as a playboy in his youth, with allegations of womanising, drinking and gambling to excess. Indeed, it is claimed that he once lost more than $6m in one night at the Monte Carlo casino."http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/255097.stm Summoned back to Saudi Arabia by the King, however, he reinvented himself in an apparently complete break from his youthful indiscretions, landing a series of increasingly important ministerial positions.

Related Topics:
BBC - Playboy - Monte Carlo

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~