King of Saudi Arabia


The King of Saudi Arabia is Saudi Arabia's absolute monarch who serves as head of state and head of government. He is the head of the Saudi Arabian royal family, the House of Saud. The King is called the "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques", a title that signifies Saudi Arabia's jurisdiction over the mosques of Masjid al Haram in Mecca and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina, the title has been used many times through the history of Islam. The first Saudi monarch to use the title was King Faisal, however, King Khaled did not use the title after him. In 1986, King Fahd replaced "His Majesty" with the title of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and it has been ever since used by both King Abdullah and King Salman bin Abdulaziz.

History

regained his patrimony, which is known as today's Saudi Arabia in 1902. Restoring his family as emirs of Riyadh, he then established Nejd as his headquarters in 1922. Following the establishment of Riyadh as the capital of his state, King Abdulaziz then captured Hejaz 1925.
Ibn Saud proclaimed his dominions as the Sultanate of Nejd in 1921, shortly before completing the unification of the region. He was proclaimed king/malik of Hejaz in 1926, and raised Nejd to a kingdom as well in 1927. For the next five years, Ibn Saud administered the two parts of his realm as separate units. In 23 September 1932, he formally united his territories into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Succession

The kings since Ibn Saud's death have all been his sons, and all likely immediate successors to the reigning King Salman will be from among his progeny. Sons of Ibn Saud are considered to have primary claim on the throne of Saudi Arabia. This makes the Saudi monarchy quite distinct from Western monarchies, which usually feature large, clearly defined royal families and orders of succession, and use the absolute primogeniture system of succession. Muhammad bin Nayef was the first grandson of Ibn Saud to be in the line of succession before being deposed from the position of Crown Prince by a royal decree in 2017.

Legal position

Saudi Arabia is ruled by Islamic law and is an Islamic state.

Other functions

The King of Saudi Arabia is also considered the Head of the House of Saud and Prime Minister. The Crown Prince is also the "Deputy Prime Minister". The kings after Faisal have named a "second Deputy Prime Minister" as the subsequent heir after the Crown Prince.

Royal Standard

The Royal Standard consists of a green flag, with an Arabic inscription and a sword featured in white, and with the national emblem embroidered in gold in the lower right canton.
The script on the flag is written in the Thuluth script. It is the shahada or Islamic declaration of faith:

List of Kings of Saudi Arabia (1932–present)


Current heirs-presumptive


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