Saudi Arabia’s new monarch, King Salman, announced a major overhaul within the nation’s royal family Wednesday, replacing his anointed heir with his nephew and naming his own son as deputy in line to the throne.
In a series of early morning royal decrees read on national television, Salman promoted his nephew, Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, from deputy crown prince to crown prince, meaning that Nayef will become king when Salman dies.
He named his son, Mohammed bin Salman, as deputy crown prince, putting him second in line to inherit the throne and thereby ensuring that the succession will pass through his own branch of the kingdom’s extensive royal family. Mohammed bin Salman’s exact age is not known, but he is believed to be about 30.
The decrees thrust a new, younger generation of Saudi princes into the line of succession, which could spell a more assertive Saudi foreign policy in the Middle East.
The move squeezes out the late King Abdullah’s choice of Prince Muqrin to succeed Salman. Abdullah had named Muqrin, his younger half-brother, as deputy crown prince two years ago, in what was widely seen at the time as an effort to secure the crown for an ally of his own sons.
The moves represented the clearest indicator yet of how the succession will likely proceed as the sons of the founder of the Saudi state, King Abdulaziz, age and die.
Nayef will become the first of Abdulaziz’s grandsons to become king. There have long been concerns that the transfer to the second generation of the family could trigger destabilizing rivalries between the hundreds of princes potentially eligible to rule the strategically vital nation, one of America’s closest Arab allies.
Whether the succession will proceed exactly as Salman plans is in question, however.
King Abdullah set a precedent when he named a deputy heir, because it has been traditional for kings to choose their own successor. King Salman has reverted to that tradition by naming his own heir, but at the same time has set the precedent that the reigning monarch can dismiss his predecessor’s choice.
Salman also replaced the 75-year old Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, who had been in the job for 40 years, with the current ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir, who is 53. He announced a series of other changes to the government that will bring younger blood into the ageing administration of the kingdom.
The changes represented the biggest royal shake-up in Saudi Arabia for years and came as yet another indicator that Salman, 79, is proving a more energetic and decisive leader than Abdullah, who died in January at the age of 90.
Salman has also led Saudi Arabia into an air war intended to reverse the gains of Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen, and has moved more forcefully to back the rebels in Syria.
Hugh Naylor in Beirut contributed to this report; Daniela Deane contributed from London.
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