Saudi Prince Salman likely heir to throne

Defence Minister Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz is likely to be anointed heir to the kingdom's throne following the death of Crown Prince Nayef on Saturday.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah (R) and Prince Salman arrive in Mecca to attend the funeral of Crown Prince Nayef.

RIYADH // Saudi Arabia's Defence Minister Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is likely to be anointed heir to the kingdom's throne.

He is seen as more moderate than his hawkish brother Crown Prince Nayef, the previous heir who died on Saturday.

Although the choice of a new crown prince must be confirmed by a family allegiance council, analysts said it would be surprising if Prince Salman, 76, was passed over.

If appointed, he is likely to shoulder much of the burden of state immediately, given that King Abdullah is 88 years old.

An imposing figure, Prince Salman controls one of the Arab world's largest media groups.

He believes that democracy is ill-suited to the conservative kingdom and advocates a cautious approach to social and cultural reform, according to a 2007 US diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks.

A familiar figure to the United States, he is someone Washington is comfortable doing business with.

"It appeared to me he had a good handle on the delicate balancing act he had to do to move society forward while being respectful of its traditions and conservative ways," said Robert Jordan, who was US ambassador in Riyadh from 2001-03.

"He doesn't blindly accept everything the United States says, but at the same time he understands the importance of the relationship, which goes beyond oil," Mr Jordan said.

After nearly 50 years as governor of Riyadh province, Prince Salman now controls the big-spending Defence Ministry.

The ministry has long used arms purchases to turn the Saudi armed forces into one of the best equipped in the Middle East and to bolster ties with allies such as the United States, Britain and France.

Since being named defence minister last year, he has visited both Washington and London, meeting President Barack Obama and prime minister David Cameron.

Prince Salman has long been part of the inner circle of the Al Saud ruling family, which founded and still dominates the kingdom in alliance with conservative clerics.

In a royal family that bases its right to rule on its guardianship of Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, Prince Salman is reputed to be devout but relatively outward-looking.

"He's not extravagant, whether in his personal life or professionally," said Khaled Almaeena, editor-in-chief of Saudi Gazette, who has known the prince for more than three decades.

"He's not a spendthrift and makes sure public money is spent well on projects. If you go to his office, he's there every morning meeting people. He has a knack of remembering people and events ... He has travelled abroad a lot and is very well read and is very well versed in dealing with the tribes."

From 1962 until last year, Salman served as governor of Riyadh, a position that meant he has had more to do with foreign governments than many senior royals.

That role saw him arbitrating disputes between quarrelling members of the ruling family, putting him at the centre of the kingdom's most important power structure.

In a meeting with the US ambassador in March 2007, described in a cable released by WikiLeaks, Prince Salman said the social and cultural reforms instigated by King Abdullah had to move slowly for fear of a conservative backlash.

He also argued against the introduction of democracy in the kingdom, citing regional and tribal divisions, and told the ambassador that a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was necessary for Middle East stability.

"He is liberal in his personal life and moderate in politics. He can't be called a liberal because he holds some conservative values," said a source close to the Saudi royals.

"He is a very balanced character, so moderate is the best word to describe him," the source added.

With his strong bearded features, Prince Salman is the royal who is said to more closely resemble his father, King Abdulaziz Al Saud, than any of his brothers.

Backed by a small group of followers inspired by an austere vision of Islam, King Al Saud recaptured his family's old stronghold of Riyadh in 1902, launching a three-decade campaign of conquest that carved out the modern borders of a kingdom founded in 1932.

Prince Salman is one of the so-called "Sudairi seven" - the brothers born to King Al Saud by his favourite wife.

His full brothers in a family of more than 30 half-brothers include the late King Fahd and Crown Prince Sultan, Nayef and Prince Ahmed, the deputy interior minister.

Prince Salman was born in 1935 in Riyadh, then a mud brick oasis deep in the interior of a new kingdom that had not yet discovered oil, depending instead on revenue from pilgrims to Mecca and Medina, date farming and camel herding.

One of his sons, Prince Sultan bin Salman, became the first Arab astronaut, flying on the US space shuttle Discovery in 1985.

Prince Sultan is now the kingdom's tourism minister while another son, Prince Abdulaziz, is the deputy oil minister.

In his five decades administering Riyadh and its surroundings, Prince Salman oversaw the development of the capital into a metropolis of 4.6 million people.

UPDATE: King Abdullah names Salman as Saudi crown prince — read article