King Khalid of Saudi Arabia

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

King Khalid of Saudi Arabia; Credit – Wikipedia

Arabic Naming Conventions

  • Al – family/clan of…
  • bin or ibn – son of…
  • bint – daughter of…

King Khalid of Saudi Arabia was born in Riyadh, Emirate of Nejd, now in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on February 13, 1913. He was the second of the two sons and the second of the three children of the future King Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia and Al Jawhara bint Musaed bin Jiluwi Al Saud (1891–1919), one of Abdulaziz’s many wives. Al Jawhara bint Musaed was one of Abdulaziz’s favorite wives. They were married in 1908 when she was seventeen years old. In 1919, when Khalid was only six years old, his mother died during the 1918-1920 influenza pandemic which also killed Prince Turki bin Abdulaziz, the eldest of all Abdulaziz’s sons. Abdulaziz was devastated when Al Jawhara bint Musaed died. Her room in the palace was kept the way it was when she died and only Abdulaziz’s beloved sister Princess Noura was allowed to enter the room.

Khalid had two full-siblings, a brother and a sister:

Abdulaziz had a polygamous household comprising several wives at a time and numerous concubines. It is thought he had a total of 22-24 wives. Abdulaziz was the father of almost a hundred children, including 45 sons of whom 36 survived to adulthood. Khalid had many half-siblings, too numerous to list here. See Wikipedia: Descendants of Ibn Saud (Abdulaziz). The six Kings of Saudi Arabia who followed King Abdulaziz were all his sons and so five of them were the half-brothers of Khalid. King Khalid succeeded his assassinated half-brother King Faisal and was succeeded by his half-brother King Fahd.

Throughout his life, Khalid had a close relationship with his brother Muhammad. Until he died in 1988, Muhammad was a close confidant and senior adviser to Khalid while he was king and then to his half-brother King Fahd, Khalid’s successor. Like Abdulaziz’s other sons, Khalid studied Sharia law and the Quran. Under the supervision of his father, Khalid learned archery, horse-riding, tribal lineages, and the art of wars, politics, diplomacy, and administration in the traditional Arabian ways.

In 1902, Khalid’s father Abdulaziz had recaptured control of Riyadh, bringing the city under the control of the Al Saud. For the next 24 years, Abdulaziz consolidated the territory of the Arabian peninsula. In 1926, Abdulaziz reached his goal and was then King of the dual Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd. On September 23, 1932, the two kingdoms of the Hejaz and Nejd were united as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

When he was just fourteen years old, Khalid was sent by his father as his representative to the desert tribes to hear their concerns and problems. During the reign of his father, Khalid was entrusted with many duties as his representative, especially in the field of diplomacy. Prince Khalid became an international figure as a result of his visits and service as a Saudi representative.

Embed from Getty Images 
Prince Khalid in 1943 looking at horseshoes from the royal stables

Khalid married six times but two of the marriages did not last long and are not listed below.

Latifa bint Ahmed Al-Sudairy, no children

Tarfa bint Abdullah bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud, no children

Noura bint Turki bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (1916 – 2011), two children

  • Prince Bandar bin Khalid Al Saud (1935 – 2018)
  • Prince Abdullah bin Khalid Al Saud (born 1935), Chairman of the King Khalid Foundation

Seetah bint Fahd Al Damer (1922 – 2012), eight children

During the rivalry between King Saud, Saudi Arabia’s second king, and Crown Prince Faisal, which ultimately led to King Saud’s forced abdication in 1964, Prince Khalid supported Crown Prince Faisal. Khalid’s elder brother Muhammad was Crown Prince during the first few months (November 1964 – March 1965) of King Faisal’s reign. He then voluntarily stepped aside from the succession to allow his younger brother Prince Khalid, to become the heir apparent to the Saudi throne. On March 29, 1965, Khalid officially became the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. He was also appointed the first Deputy Prime Minister. There is speculation that Khalid was chosen Crown Prince because it created intra-family consensus due to Khalid’s lack of interest in political machinations. Khalid asked King Faisal to remove him as Crown Prince several times. King Faisal always rejected the request because he felt Khalid’s presence as Crown Prince was necessary to keep peace within the House of Saud.

On March 25, 1975, 68-year-old King Faisal was shot and killed by his 30-year-old nephew Prince Faisal bin Musaid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at the Royal Palace in Riyadh. (See Unofficial Royalty: Assassination of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia) Khalid, who did not even want to be Crown Prince, succeeded to the throne of Saudi Arabia.

Although King Khalid initially was reluctant to rule Saudi Arabia, he gradually warmed to his role and worked on improving the education, health-care, and infrastructure of Saudi Arabia during his seven-year reign. King Khalid had 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, and therefore, he was granted support by Saudi princes and other powerful forces of the country.

Embed from Getty Images
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom meets King Khalid during a visit to the Gulf States on February 18, 1979 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Khalid suffered from ill-health and perhaps that was one of the reasons that he was reluctant to take on the role of King of Saudi Arabia. In 1970, while he was Crown Prince, Khalid suffered a massive heart attack and in 1972, he had cardiac surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio in the United States. After he became king, Khalid had hip replacement surgery at Wellington Hospital in London, England in 1976, and a second cardiac surgery in 1978 at the Cleveland Clinic. In 1980, King Khalid had a minor heart attack. Because of King Khalid’s ill health, his half-brother and successor Crown Prince Fahd was often in charge of ruling the country.

King Khalid died on June 13, 1982, aged 69, in Ta’if, Saudi Arabia from a heart attack. On the day of his death, King Khalid’s body was brought from Ta’if to Mecca, Saudi Arabia where funeral prayers were said at the Great Mosque. He was then buried at the Al Oud cemetery in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Al Oud cemetery – burials are in unmarked graves covered with mounds of stones; Credit – timenote.info

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Ar.wikipedia.org. 2020. خالد بن عبد العزيز آل سعود. [online] Available at: <https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF_%D8%A8%D9%86_%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%AF_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%B2_%D8%A2%D9%84_%D8%B3%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%AF> [Accessed 3 September 2020].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Khalid Of Saudi Arabia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_of_Saudi_Arabia> [Accessed 3 September 2020].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2020. King Abdulaziz Of Saudi Arabia. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-abdulaziz-ibn-saud-of-saudi-arabia/> [Accessed 2 September 2020].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2019. King Faisal Of Saudi Arabia. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-faisal-of-saudi-arabia/> [Accessed 2 September 2020].
  • House of Saud. 2020. Khalid Of Saudi Arabia – House Of Saud. [online] Available at: <https://houseofsaud.com/profiles/khalid-of-saudi-arabia/> [Accessed 3 September 2020].
  • Timesmachine.nytimes.com. 1982. KHALID, QUIET KING AND DESERT HUNTER. [online] Available at: <https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1982/06/14/208230.html?pageNumber=12> [Accessed 3 September 2020].