Nasser bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

Nasser bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (Arabic: ناصر بن عبد العزيز آل سعود; 1911 – 15 September 1984) was a Saudi Arabian businessman who served as the governor of Riyadh Province from 1938 to 1951. He was a member of the House of Saud.

Nasser bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
Governor of Riyadh Province
In office1938–1951
PredecessorMuhammad bin Saad bin Zaid
SuccessorSultan bin Abdulaziz
MonarchAbdulaziz
Born1911
Riyadh, Emirate of Nejd and Hasa
Died15 September 1984 (aged 72–73)
Saudi Arabia
SpouseMuhdi bint Ahmed Al Sudairi
Names
Nasser bin Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud
HouseAl Saud
FatherKing Abdulaziz
MotherBazza I

Early life and education

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Prince Nasser was born in Qasr Al Hukm, Riyadh,[1] in 1911.[2] There are other reports, giving his birth date as 1913 and as 1921.[3] He was the sixth son of King Abdulaziz.[4] His mother was Bazza, a Moroccan woman.[3][5] Prince Nasser had no full-brothers or full-sisters.[6] He received education in Riyadh at the school of the palace, learning Quran, horsemanship and war techniques.[2]

Riyadh governorship

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In 1938, King Abdulaziz appointed him as the governor of Riyadh Province.[2] However, he had to resign from his post due to an incident in which several foreigners died of alcohol poisoning.[7] Upon hearing of this event, King Abdulaziz threw him in jail.[7] He was replaced by his half-brother Sultan bin Abdulaziz in the post.[8] Subsequently, Nasser bin Abdulaziz lost his post and never returned to public life.[8]

Exclusion from succession and allegiances

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Prince Nasser and his half-brother Prince Saad were excluded from the succession, and their younger half-brother Fahd was selected as crown prince instead in 1975.[5] However, the supersession did not cause turmoil because both Nasser and Saad were regarded as weak contenders due to being relatively less experienced.[5] Furthermore, Prince Nasser lost his chance to become king due to "dissolute" mores. He was regarded as unsuitable for succession by the larger family.[4] His lack of accomplishment and low birth (his mother was a woman of colour from Morocco) were also factors leading to his exclusion.[9]

Prince Nasser was one of two sons of King Abdulaziz who did not support the Crown Prince Faisal in his struggle with King Saud.[8]

Personal life

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One of his wives, Muhdi bint Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Sudairi, was the younger sister of his step-mother, Hussa, who was the mother of seven influential sons, known as the Sudairi Seven.[10] Nasser and Muhdi had five sons: Prince Khalid, Prince Abdullah, Prince Fahd, Prince Turki and Prince Ahmed.[10] His other spouse was a daughter of Abdullah bin Mutaib Al Rashid.[8] Another one was a great granddaughter of Nuri Al Shalaan.[11]

One of Nasser's sons, Turki, was a former military officer and the former head of the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME). Another son, Mohammed bin Nasser, is the governor of Jizan Province.[12] Mansour bin Nasser was one of King Abdullah's advisors.[13] Yet another son, Abdulaziz bin Nasser, is a businessman[14] and the father of Saud bin Abdulaziz, who murdered his servant in London in 2010.[15] Abdullah bin Nasser, another son of Prince Nasser, was the president of Saudi football club Al Hilal in the 1970s.[16]

Prince Nasser's daughter, Al Bandara, died in Riyadh in February 2017.[17]

Later years and death

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Prince Nasser could not walk and used a wheelchair in his last years.[5] He died on 15 September 1984 and was buried in Riyadh.[2]

Legacy

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His family founded the Prince Nasser bin Abdulaziz Center for Autism, an affiliated body of the Saudi Autism Center; the center was opened in April 2012.[18][19]

Ancestry

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References

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  1. ^ ""قصر الحكم" يحتفظ بأجمل الذكريات لأفراد الأسرة ... - جريدة الرياض". Al Riyadh (in Arabic). 23 May 2007. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "Princes of Riyadh". Ministry of Interior. Archived from the original on 19 November 2013. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  3. ^ a b Winberg Chai, ed. (2005). Saudi Arabia: A Modern Reader. Indianapolis, IN: University of Indianapolis Press. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-88093-859-4.
  4. ^ a b Nabil Mouline (April–June 2012). "Power and generational transition in Saudi Arabia". Critique Internationale. 46: 1–22. doi:10.3917/crii.046.0125.
  5. ^ a b c d Simon Henderson (1994). "After King Fahd" (Policy Paper). Washington Institute. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  6. ^ "Appendix 6. The Sons of Abdulaziz" (PDF). Springer. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  7. ^ a b Michael Herb (1999). All in the family. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. p. 102. ISBN 0-7914-4168-7.
  8. ^ a b c d Gary Samuel Samore (1984). Royal Family Politics in Saudi Arabia (1953-1982) (PhD thesis). Harvard University. pp. 82, 189, 326. ProQuest 303295482.
  9. ^ Talal Kapoor (1 November 2007). "The Kingdom: Succession in Saudi Arabia (part two)". Datarabia. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  10. ^ a b Joseph A. Kechichian (2001). Succession in Saudi Arabia. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 9. ISBN 9780312238803.
  11. ^ William Lancaster (1981). The Rwala Bedouin Today. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-521-28275-8.
  12. ^ "Prince Mohammed bin Nasser sponsors the inauguration ceremony of the Saudi Biology Association conference at Jazan University". Jazan University. Archived from the original on 13 June 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  13. ^ "King Abdulla Arrives In Makkah From Jeddah". Bahrain News Agency. 17 June 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  14. ^ "HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz Al Saud". Ranger Saudia. Archived from the original on 15 December 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  15. ^ "Saudi prince beat servant to death in London hotel, court hears". The Guardian. 5 October 2010. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  16. ^ Owen Amos (14 April 2019). "The footballer, the Saudi prince and the proposition". BBC. Manchester. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  17. ^ "Saudi Royal Court mourns death of Princess Al-Bandarah bint Nasser bin Abdulaziz". Emirates 24/7. 26 February 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  18. ^ "His Highness the Minister of Defense opens Prince Nasser bin Abdulaziz Center for Autism". Riyadh Municipality. 22 April 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  19. ^ "Prince Salman to open Prince Nasser bin Abdulaziz Center for Autism". Saudi Press Agency. 16 April 2012. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2012.