Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia

The last Crown Prince of the Second Saudi State was Abdulaziz ibn Abdul Ramhan ibn Saud, who lost the title when his father lost his state to the House of Rashid in the 19th century. His father abdicated the pretended throne to him in 1900, and began his famous wars of conquest of what would become the third Saudi state. When he had taken enough land to become recognized as a genuine Emir, he designated his eldest son Turki as his heir. When Turki died during the flu pandemic of 1919, his only child was still in utero, and Abdulaziz designated his second son Saud to be heir and that further succession would be brother to brother.

When the Unification of Saudi Arabia was complete in 1932, Abdulaziz had himself declared king, and a year later Saud was declared crown prince.

When the old King died in 1953, Saud became King and, as planned, his brother Faisal was declared Crown Prince. Then things became complicated. The King and his heir began feuding: Faisal took the title "Prime Minister" for a while, and on occasion took over the government against the King's wishes. Saud fought back, and things came to a head in 1964, when Faisal forced his brother to abdicate and became King himself. The next in line, Prince Mohammed, was Crown Prince for a short time but disclaimed that title in favour of Prince Khalid in 1965.

With Khalid not all that interested in being King, his Crown Prince, Fahd, took the reins of power. When King Fahd had a stroke in 1995, Crown Prince Abdullah became the formal Regent for the remainder of Fahd's reign.

As the nation became a gerontocracy in the 2000s and early '10s, three crown princes died of old age in rapid succession. In the meantime, more and more princes were passed over. In January 2015, Ibn Saud's last son, Muqrin, became Crown Prince, only to be ousted three months later in favour of his nephew, Mohammed bin Nayef. Mohammed bin Nayef, the first grandson of Ibn Saud to hold the title, was himself removed in June 2017, and replaced by another grandson of Ibn Saud, Mohammad bin Salman.

The honorific title of "Deputy Crown Prince" only dates from 2014, but the position, under the title of "Second Deputy Prime Minister" goes back to 1967, in order to designate who was the senior prince not excluded from the throne.

By late 1964, it became obvious to those at court that Crown Prince Mohammed was not suitable for the throne and that King Faisal wanted to also bypass the next three in line and install Prince Fahd to be his heir. However, a faction loyal to the soon-to-be-out crown prince wouldn't have it, so as a compromise, Prince Khalid, who was considered a nonentity, would be next in line; Princes Saad and Nasir, who had no qualifications aside from seniority, would be skipped as planned, and that Fahd would take the title of "Second Deputy Prime Minister" to cement his place as second in line.

When King Faisal was assassinated in 1975, King Khalid designated Prince Abdullah, who was next in line anyway, as second deputy.

As King Khalid became ill with old age, the question of who would succeed Abdullah as second deputy became more pressing. Prince Musa'id, whose son had murdered King Faisal, long knew he was out and Prince Bandar demanded and got, a huge bribe to stand down. Prince Sultan, despite opposition, was appointed when the old King died.

Muqrin was the first one to hold deputy crown prince position in 2014.

Name	Lifespan	Reign start	Reign end	Notes	Family	Image
Muqrin مقرن	(1945-09-15) 15 September 1945	27 March 2014	23 January 2015 (became crown prince)	Son of Ibn Saud and Baraka Al Yamaniyah	Al Saud
Muhammad bin Nayef محمد بن نايف	(1959-08-30) 30 August 1959	23 January 2015	29 April 2015 (became crown prince)	Son of Nayef bin Abdulaziz and Al Jawhara bint Abdulaziz bin Musaed bin Jiluwi Al Saud Grandson of Ibn Saud and Hassa bint Ahmed Al Sudairi	Al Saud
Mohammad bin Salman محمد بن سلمان	(1985-08-31) 31 August 1985	29 April 2015	21 June 2017 (became crown prince)	Son of King Salman and Fahda bint Falah bin Sultan Al Hithalayn Grandson of Ibn Saud and Hassa bint Ahmed Al Sudairi	Al Saud

Since 21 June 2017, the post of deputy crown prince has been vacant.

The Royal Standard of the Crown Prince consists of a green flag, with an Arabic inscription and a sword featured in white, and with the national emblem embroidered in Silver in the lower right canton.

Royal Standard of the Crown Prince

The script on the flag is written in the Thuluth script. It is the shahada or Islamic declaration of faith:

لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا الله مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ الله

lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāh, muḥammadu rasūlu-llāh

There is no other god but Allah, Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.[1]

• Succession to the Saudi Arabian throne