Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
Abdullah | |||||
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Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques | |||||
King of Saudi Arabia | |||||
Reign | 5 January 1967 - 8 May 2007 | ||||
Bay'ah | 5 January 1967 | ||||
Predecessor | Faisal | ||||
Successor | Mohammed | ||||
Prime Minister | Talal bin Abdulaziz | ||||
Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia | |||||
Tenure | 2 November 1964 - 5 January 1967 | ||||
Predecessor | Muhammad bin Abdulaziz | ||||
Successor | Mohammed bin Abdullah | ||||
King | Faisal | ||||
Governor of Hejaz | |||||
Tenure | 1946 - 1949 | ||||
Predecessor | Mansour bin Abdulaziz | ||||
Monarch | Abdulaziz | ||||
Minister of Interior | |||||
Reign | 2 June 1951 - 30 March 1959 | ||||
Predecessor | Faisal bin Abdulaziz | ||||
Successor | Faisal bin Abdulaziz | ||||
Monarch | Abdulaziz Saud | ||||
Minister of Health | |||||
Reign | 1950 - 1953 | ||||
Predecessor | Office established | ||||
Successor | Rashad Pharaon | ||||
Monarch | Abdulaziz Saud | ||||
Born | Riyadh, Nejd | 18 June 1923||||
Died | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | ||||
Burial | |||||
Spouse | Al Jawhara bint Khalid bin Mohammed | ||||
Issue | 10 | ||||
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House | House of Saud | ||||
Father | Faisal | ||||
Mother | Sultana bint Ahmed Al Sudairi |
Abdullah bin Faisal Al Saud (Arabic: عبد الله بن فيصل آل سعود ʿAbd Allāh bin Fayṣal Āl Suʿūd; 18 June 1923 – 8 May 2007) was a Saudi Arabian politician who was King of Saudi Arabia from 5 January 1967 to 8 May 2007. The eldest son of the reformist King Faisal, Abdullah previously held a number of ministerial posts in the Saudi government prior to his ascension to the throne, including the governor of Hejaz, and the minister of health and later interior respectively, all of which made him one of the most powerful Saudi royals of his time.
On January 1967, following the passing of his father, Abdullah ascended to the throne of Saudi Arabia, a kingdom that was then in the midst of an extensive modernisation spearheaded by his uncle, Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz, the kingdom's prime minister. Meanwhile, despite his now mostly ceremonial role as king, Abdullah, a reformist much like his father, continued to give his full support for Prince Talal's wide-ranging reforms, amidst stern opposition from the Saudi religious establishment.
Meanwhile, as the kingdom's head of state, Abdullah represented Saudi Arabia abroad on multiple occasions, during which he met with both Western and Eastern leaders. Eventually, on 8 May 2007, Abdullah passed away at the age of eighty-three after a fourty year-long rule, making him Saudi Arabia's longest reigning monarch. He was succeeded as king by his eldest son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Abdullah.