Prince Mohammed; Saudi ‘Maker of Kings’

Prince Mohammed, 80, who played an important part in the conquests of his father, the late King Abdel-Aziz Ibn Saud. The victories of the prince’s father led to the overthrow of Turkish domination from the preceding century and the unification of most of the Arabian Peninsula in 1932 into what is now Saudi Arabia. Mohammed was dubbed the “maker of kings” because he declined the crown in favor of King Faisal upon the downfall of his half-brother, King Saud, in the early 1960s. In July, 1977, Mohammed ordered the execution of his granddaughter, Princess Mishael, and her lover, Khalid Muhallal, a nephew of the then-Saudi ambassador to Lebanon. The execution was ordered for adultery because Mishael was married. The executions caused a stir in Western Europe and the United States and were the basis for a widely watched British TV show, “The Death of a Princess.” In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Friday.