From greeting foreign leaders to heading regional summits, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is taking over the reins from his elderly father and becoming Saudi Arabia’s uncrowned king.
With increased concerns over the nearly 86-year-old King Salman’s health, Prince Mohammed, 36, is taking charge of presidential meetings and reception of dignitaries, with the king rarely making public appearances.
While Prince Mohammed has been considered the de facto leader since his appointment as heir to the throne in June 2017, his growing prominence has never been more apparent than when he met with French President Emmanuel Macron in early December and led the Gulf Cooperation Council summit on Tuesday.
“The idea that a crown prince is the de facto ruler of the country, meeting with foreign presidents and presiding over summits, only happened before when Saudi kings were not in good health,” Yasmine Farouk, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told AFP.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19, King Salman has been residing in Neom, a futuristic development on the Red Sea.
His last meeting with a foreign official in Riyadh was in March 2020, when he sat down with then-UK foreign minister Dominic Raab, and his last trip abroad was to Oman to offer his condolences over the death of Sultan Qaboos in January 2020.
Prince Mohammed has positioned himself as a champion of moderate Islam.
The crown prince has opened Saudi Arabia to tourists and foreign investments in an effort to diversify the economy of the world’s largest oil exporter economy away from crude.
He has overseen sweeping social changes, including allowing women to drive and work in the public sector, enabling citizens to enjoy the additional income and recreational outlets that opened up across the country.
He even seemed more open than his father towards Israel, allowing its commercial aircraft to pass through Saudi air space.
Prince Mohammed recently embarked on a Gulf tour ahead of the summit, meeting with heads of Gulf Cooperation Council member states.