Word: fahd
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...ascetic Crown Prince (later King) Faisal summoned his younger half-brother Fahd and told him he was disgracing himself and the kingdom. It was time, said Faisal, for Fahd to come home and devote himself to serious matters of state. Implicit in the rebuke was a warning that Fahd was endangering his chances of succeeding to the crown. As one of seven sons borne by the favorite wife of the legendary Abdul Aziz (generally known as Ibn Saud), who created Saudi Arabia, Fahd was among those in line someday to be King. But there was, and is, nothing automatic about...
Spurred by shame and ambition, Fahd tamed his playboy ways and became Minister of Education just as the oil money was beginning to pour in. Though his formal education had been confined to a few years at a kuttab (Koranic school), Fahd built schools by the hundreds and several universities. He later served as Interior Minister, and in 1975, when King Faisal was assassinated and succeeded by another brother, Khalid, Fahd became Crown Prince. Khalid, troubled by a weak heart, paid little attention to affairs of state; Fahd in effect ran the country for years before he succeeded...
...money by 1975 had reached flood tide -- around $100 billion a year -- and Fahd led Saudi Arabia into headlong modernization. He built hospitals, schools, superhighways, sports arenas. Many Saudis went in a single generation from mud huts to trim low-cost housing, free education for their children through the university level, and free medical care in modern hospitals. Fahd managed affairs with Bedouin shrewdness. He insisted that as soon as a project was approved, money for it had to be set aside. The practice horrified financial advisers who thought the cash should be invested to earn interest, but when...
...Fahd's personal wealth, built on a fee levied on every barrel of oil extracted from Saudi land before 1980, is estimated at $18 billion, second only to the wealth of the Sultan of Brunei ($25 billion). He boasts at least 12 royal palaces, ranging from the $2.5 billion Al-Yamamah Palace complex in Riyadh to a "cottage" four times the size of the White House in Marbella, Spain. He owns several jets and yachts, all with gold bathroom faucets; his main yacht, a $60 million craft, is escorted by a vessel that carries Stinger antiaircraft missiles. His fleet...
...Though Fahd's views are tinged with superstition -- he follows the advice of astrologers -- he keeps the Koran at his bedside. He suffers from diabetes, back trouble, a weakness of the heart and shortness of breath, but still chain-smokes Marlboros. He has tried repeatedly, with varying success, to lose weight by methods ranging from diets to occasional visits to a Swiss fat farm...