Sabah, Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Salim al- (1930–2008)

Kuwaiti crown prince and politician, prime minister 1978–2003 and briefly emir of Kuwait in 2006. He was given the title of Kuwait's crown prince in January 1978 and became prime minister in February 1978, after his cousin, Sheikh Jabir al-Sabah, became emir. More gregarious and less austere than his cousin, Sheikh Saad's personality made him popular in some quarters, although his background in police and security matters, and his reported suspicion of parliament, led him to be disliked by others. On Sheikh Jabir's death, in January 2006, Sheikh Saad took office as emir, but he was in ill health and he abdicated after ten days on the throne, in favour of his second cousin Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah, who was Sheikh Jabir's half-brother.

He belonged to the al-Salim branch of Kuwait's al-Sabah family and was the eldest son of Sheikh Abdullah al-Salim al-Sabah, who ruled Kuwait as emir 1950–65. After initial studies in Kuwait, Sheikh Saad studied at the Hendon Police Academy in England, returning in 1945 to work for the Metropolitan Police in Kuwait. When the police and the public security departments were combined in 1961, Sheikh Saad was appointed chief of both areas and named minister of the interior, a post he held until 1977. He also served as minister of defence 1965–77.