Abd Al-Aziz IV Ibn Saud Biography

Abd Al-Aziz IV Ibn Saud

(Kuwait, 1902-Athens, 1969) King of Saudi Arabia.He was the son of Ibn Saud III, who he succeeded to the Saudi throne in 1953, since he held until 1964.Despite his great influence in the Islamic world, his close relations with Western countries, especially the United States, earned him the enmity of numerous governments of Arab countries.

He was educated in Kuwait, where his father was in exile.In 1933, a year after the constitution of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, he was proclaimed crown prince.At the head of the Saudi troops he defeated the Yemenis in the 1934 campaign.In 1939 his father Ibn Saud III appointed him Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and Viceroy of Hedjaz.When his father established the institution of the Council of Ministers in early 1953, for the first time in the history of Saudi Arabia, Ibn Saud IV became its president.

Ibn Saud

In September the king appointed him head of the military police forces.He ascended to the throne in November 1953 with the support of his brothers, after the death of his father.One of his first decisions was to name his brother Faysal Crown Prince.He continued with the modernization program of the country initiated by his father and created the ministries of Commerce, Education and Health.He made a special effort to strengthen the educational system.

Despite this Western aspect with which he endowed his government, his reign was characterized by an autocratic and personalist power, and the country continued to be plunged into a almost feudal regime.He strengthened the ties of friendship with the West and took a series of measures to facilitate the work of the oil companies.His regime was sustained thanks mainly to the high income obtained from the extraction of oil, which in turn allowed him to amass a considerable personal fortune, which made him the richest man in the world.He adopted a sumptuous way of life, which he maintained until his death.On his transfers he was accompanied by a large harem and an entourage made up of more than 150 people.When the Suez Canal Crisis broke out in 1956, Saud showed his full support for Egypt, breaking relations with France and the United Kingdom, as well as blocking the delivery of oil to both countries.

However, the arrival Money complicated the structure of the administration, which made it impossible for it to be controlled directly by the king as had happened in the kingdom until then.The country was involved in a deep internal crisis, as the king was unable to solve the problems that the country was facing.His mismanagement plunged the country into economic disaster.In 1957 he ended the separate administration for the Hedjaz region.That same year the construction of the new Nasriya Royal Palace was completed, where he established his residence.Also in 1957 he made his first state trip to the United States, a country with which he promised to allow him to continue using the Dharan air base, in exchange for the sending of instructors and war material.

His old friendship with the Egyptian leader Nasser broke down, and he began a series of trips around the world in order to replace Egypt as the main Arab power.His enmity with Egypt led him to prepare a plot against the Egyptian president; in this way, it tried to avoid the creation by Syria and Egypt of the United Arab Republic.The failure of the plot against the Egyptian dignitary made him lose much of his support in the court of Riyadh.

An illness plunged him into practically total blindness, for which he gave his brother Faysal in 1960 the presidency of the council of ministers.The new head of government assumed full control of foreign and domestic policy.He established a more austere administration and publicly lamented his brother's former profligacies, which had led to dangerous inflation.However, to avoid confrontations with the king, he announced that the sovereign continued to retain his authority and that he, as head of government, would continue to be loyal to his brother.Ibn Saud appointed Faysal as Minister of Defense in 1959, a position previously held by the sovereign's own son, Fahed.

Faysal's decision to end The censorship of the press annoyed Ibn Saud, who, fearful of losing his absolute power, returned to assume all powers in 1960.Shortly after regaining power he gave new signs of his absolutism, when he forced the Council of Ministers to accept the concession from the Jidda refinery for one of his sons.Faced with the protests that arose in the court, in June 1960 he called a meeting of the royal family, in which he established the spheres of influence of each member of the family.Shortly after, he accepted his brother's resignation.During 1961 he reaffirmed his power by directly assuming control of domestic politics with his traditional heavy hand.His actions led his brother Talal and several members of the royal family, who had attacked the feudal system, to flee the country.

He tried to reconcile with his brother in October 1962, when he appointed him prime minister.and Minister of Foreign Affairs.His illness forced him to spend much of 1963 abroad to receive various medical treatments.His absence caused internal opposition to increase considerably.One of his last appearances as king was his participation in the Cairo Conference, at the beginning of 1964.Faced with his inability to lead the government, his brother Faysal, who was in favor of a greater modernization of the country, supported by great part of the royal family, took advantage of a new stay abroad for health reasons, gave a coup and overthrew him in March 1964.

Ibn Saud was definitively dethroned in November 1964, when Faysal was proclaimed king of Saudi Arabia by a council of ulama and emirs.The dethroned monarch accepted the invitation of one of his oldest enemies, Egyptian President Nasser, and settled in Cairo.Later, he moved to live in the Greek town of Cavouri, which was in the vicinity of Athens.He died in 1969 from a heart attack.With his death, one of the last absolute monarchs of the East disappeared.