Khalid of Saudi Arabia

Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 25 March 1975 until his death in 1982. Before his ascension, he was Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. Khalid is the fifth son of King Abdulaziz, the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Khalid was the son of King Abdulaziz and Al Jawhara bint Musaed Al Saud. He assisted his half-brother Prince Faisal in his duties as foreign minister of Saudi Arabia. Khalid served as viceroy of the Hejaz region for a brief time in the 1930s. He visited the United States in 1943 together with Faisal, establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries. He was appointed deputy prime minister of Saudi Arabia in 1962. King Faisal named Khalid as crown prince in 1965, after Khalid's full brother Prince Muhammad removed himself from the line of royal succession.
Following the assassination of King Faisal in 1975, Khalid ascended to the throne. His reign saw both huge developments in the country due to an increase in oil revenues and also significant events in the Middle East. In 1979, a group of civilians seized the Grand Mosque of Mecca and sought but failed to kidnap Khalid. Saudi forces regained control over the mosque, but the seizure resulted in the introduction of stricter religious policies in Saudi Arabia. Khalid died in 1982 and was succeeded by his half-brother Fahd.

Early life and education

Khalid was born in Qasr Al Hukm, Riyadh, on 13 February 1913. He was the fifth son of King Abdulaziz. His mother, Al Jawhara bint Musaed, was from the important Al Jiluwi clan. She was a second cousin of Abdulaziz, their paternal grandfathers Jiluwi bin Turki and Faisal bin Turki being brothers. This was in keeping with long-standing traditions in Arabia of marriage within the same lineage, and members of Al Jiluwi frequently intermarried with the members of Al Saud.
Khalid had one full-brother, Muhammad. His full sister, Al Anoud, married to the sons of King Abdulaziz's brother Sa'ad bin Abdul Rahman. She first married Saud bin Sa'ad. After Saud died, she married Fahd bin Sa'ad. Khalid attended the Mufirej school founded by Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al Mufirej in 1879 based in the Sheikh Abdullah bin Abdul Latif Mosque in the Dukhna neighborhood of Riyadh. There he acquired basic literacy skills and studied arithmetics.

Early experience

Aged 14, Khalid was sent by Abdulaziz as his representative to the desert tribes to hear their concerns and problems. In 1928 he and his brother Muhammad were given the task of observing the Transjordan border during the Ikhwan revolt. Prince Khalid's preparation for ruling a modern state started through his visits with his brother Prince Faisal on foreign missions. He served as advisor to Faisal. Prince Khalid became an international figure due to his visits and service as a Saudi representative. He was more liberal in informing the press about the rationale behind foreign policy decisions.
Prince Khalid was made acting viceroy of Hejaz in early 1932 when his full brother Prince Muhammad carried out the task badly. The same year he was named as viceroy of Hejaz, replacing Prince Faisal in the post, who was named minister of foreign affairs, and Prince Khalid's term lasted until 1934. Prince Khalid joined the Saudi army led by his older brother Prince Faisal and fought against Yemeni forces in 1934. After the war, Prince Khalid served as the chairman of the Saudi delegation at the Taif Conference with Yemen in 1934. This was a diplomatic move that led to the Taif Treaty later that year which was signed by Prince Khalid on behalf of Saudi Arabia and Abdullah Al Wazeer on behalf of Yemen.
Prince Khalid was named interior minister in 1934 and was the Saudi representative at the peace negotiations in Yemen in 1935. In 1939, he participated in the St. James Conference on Palestine in London as the minister of interior as well as an assistant to Prince Faisal, head of the Saudi delegation.
In October 1943 Prince Faisal and Prince Khalid visited the United States representing their father, upon the July 1943 invitation of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The visit was the earliest high-level contact between Saudi Arabia and the US. Vice President Henry A. Wallace organized a dinner for them at the White House. They also met with President Roosevelt. They stayed at the official government guest house, Blair House, and visited the West Coast by a special train that was officially provided by the U.S. government. A foreign diplomat described Prince Khalid following the visit as the "nicest man in Saudi Arabia."
However, after this visit and during most of the 1950s Prince Khalid did not play a significant role in the government partly due to the fact that his half-brother Mansour bin Abdulaziz and his nephew Abdullah bin Faisal became much more dominant political figures. Prince Khalid reemerged as a significant figure in 1960 when King Saud named him acting prime minister. In addition, on 31 October 1962 he was appointed deputy prime minister in the new cabinet formed by Crown Prince Faisal. This move indicated his prominence in the line of succession. During the rivalry between Crown Prince Faisal and King Saud, Prince Khalid supported the former together with other princes who were members of the Al Jiluwi branch of Al Saud through maternal lineage or marriage. The group was led by Prince Muhammad, Prince Khalid and Prince Abdullah.
At the beginning of King Faisal's reign Prince Khalid was made a member of the council which had been established by the king to guide the succession issues.

Crown prince

Khalid's older full-brother Prince Muhammad declined a place in the succession. Khalid also refused the offer of King Faisal to be named as crown prince several times until March 1965. In addition, he asked King Faisal to remove him from the position various times. However, the King persuaded Khalid that his presence as crown prince was necessary to keep peace within the House of Saud. One of the speculations about Prince Khalid's selection as heir designate was his lack of predilection for politics. In short, by selecting him as heir designate the royal family could create intra-familial consensus.
Khalid was named crown prince on 29 March 1965. King Faisal announced Khalid's appointment on the same day through a broadcast over Mecca Radio:

Since the position of Crown Prince is a fundamental factor for the continuation and firmness of the reign, now the country enjoys stability, advancement and prosperity. Thanks to its adherence to Islam. It gives me great pleasure to announce...that I have chosen my brother Prince Khalid bin Abdulaziz as Crown Prince to rule after me.

Prince Khalid was also named first deputy prime minister following his appointment as crown prince. Although Joseph A. Kéchichian argues that Crown Prince Khalid was not active in daily issues, but acted as a representative during King Faisal's absences in meetings or ceremonies, he governed all organisational and executive powers of the Council of Ministers. He also dealt with the affairs of the Governorate of Mecca on behalf of King Faisal. However, in 1968 Crown Prince Khalid expressed his desire not to preside over the Council of Ministers against King Faisal's request which led to the appointment of Prince Fahd as second deputy prime minister with the task of leading the Council meetings.
In 1970 Crown Prince Khalid led Saudi delegations to Jordan to meet the needs of Palestinians who were seriously affected from Israel's attacks. According to the declassified US diplomatic documents of 1971, he enjoyed the support of the tribal chiefs, religious authorities and of Prince Abdullah, head of the Saudi National Guard, during this period.

Reign

Khalid succeeded to the throne on 25 March 1975 when King Faisal was assassinated. He was proclaimed king after a meeting of senior members of Al Saud: his uncle Abdullah bin Abdul Rahman and his brothers Muhammad, Nasser, Saad, Fahd, and Abdullah. The meeting occurred just hours after the assassination of King Faisal. Khalid also became the de facto prime minister of Saudi Arabia and the chairman of two significant councils, namely the Higher Council for Administrative Reform and the Supreme Council for National Security.
Although there are various reports stating that King Khalid was only a figurehead during his reign, he was in fact not a figurehead, but the final decision-maker on all major policy issues during his reign. King Faisal established a system in which the king was the final mediator in family problems. King Khalid reduced the power of the Sudairi Seven concerning succession in 1977 when he was in London for treatment. Following the unsuccessful attempt of the Sudairi Seven to overthrow King Khalid and to install one of their own, Prince Sultan, as deputy crown prince instead of Prince Abdullah, the King asked Crown Prince Fahd and Prince Abdullah to fully obey the existing succession plan without any change. King Khalid also closely checked the activities of Crown Prince Fahd due to the latter's clear support for the pro-Western policies and hostile tendency against Iran and Shia population of Saudi Arabia.
In addition, King Khalid was not an ineffective leader. Although he seemed to be reluctant to rule the country initially, he later warmed to the throne and displayed an apparent interest in improving the education, health-care and infrastructure of the country during his seven-year reign. During the first two years of his reign he was not active in politics due to his poor health condition, but later he became much more active as a result of his much better health.
King Khalid is also considered to have been a genial caretaker during his reign. However, he failed to monopolize power during his reign, leading to the empowerment of the princes who had been in powerful posts in late King Faisal's reign. He had some personal characteristics that made him a respected king. He was admired as an honest man who managed to have good relations with the traditional establishment of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, he was granted support by other princes and powerful forces of the country. Ghadah Alghunaim, a board member of the King Abdulaziz Center for National Dialogue, argues in her doctoral dissertation that Khalid's reign was a golden era and the "era of goodness" for the country.