Abdullah, ibn Abdul Aziz al-Saud (1924– )

King of Saudi Arabia from 2005. He was first deputy prime minister from 1982. On the assassination, in 1975, of King Faisal, he became second deputy prime minister and he was designated Crown Prince and first deputy prime minister on the death of his half-brother King Khalid in 1982. After his half-brother King Fahd suffered a stroke, power was temporarily ceded to Abdullah, his legal successor, in January 1996. He succeeded to the throne on the death of Fahd in August 2005.

Born in Riyadh, he was the 13th son of King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, the founder of the Saudi dynasty, and was viewed as the leader of the traditionalists within the Saudi royal family. He was educated in private by selected religious scholars and intellectuals and spent much of his early life in the desert, where he developed close links with Bedouin tribal leaders. He later became governor of Mecca and, in 1963, commander of the 400,000-strong Saudi National Guard, which is recruited from leading Saudi tribes and acts as a counterbalance to the army.