Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Abdullah of Saudi Arabia

former King of Saudi Arabia

Date of Birth: 01-Aug-1924

Place of Birth: Riyadh, Riyadh Region, Saudi Arabia

Date of Death: 23-Jan-2015

Profession: politician

Nationality: Saudi Arabia

Zodiac Sign: Leo


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About Abdullah of Saudi Arabia

  • Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (Arabic: ??????? ?? ????????? ?? ?????, ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Al Sa‘ud, Najdi Arabic pronunciation: [?æb'd??.?? ben '?æbdæl ?æ'zi?z ?æ?l sæ'?u?d]; 1 August 1924 – 23 January 2015) was King of Saudi Arabia and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques from 2005 to his death in 2015. He ascended to the throne on 1 August 2005 upon the death of his half-brother, King Fahd. Abdullah, like Fahd, was one of the many sons of Ibn Saud, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia.
  • Abdullah held important political posts throughout most of his adult life.
  • In 1961 he became mayor of Mecca, his first public office.
  • The following year, he was appointed commander of the Saudi Arabian National Guard, a post he was still holding when he became king.
  • He also served as deputy defense minister and was named crown prince when Fahd took the throne in 1982.
  • After King Fahd suffered a serious stroke in 1995, Abdullah became the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia until ascending the throne a decade later. During his reign he maintained close relations with United States and United Kingdom and bought billions of dollars worth of defense equipment from both states.
  • He also gave women the right to vote for municipal councils and to compete in the Olympics.
  • Furthermore, Abdullah maintained the status quo when there were waves of protest in the kingdom during the Arab Spring.
  • In November 2013, a BBC report claimed that, due to the close relations it had with Pakistan, Saudi Arabia could obtain nuclear weapons at will from that country.
  • The King also had a longstanding relationship with Pakistan, and brokered a compromise between ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and General Pervez Musharraf, whom he had requested to be exiled to Saudi Arabia for a 10-year exile, following his ouster in the 1999 Pakistani coup d'état.The King outlived two of his crown princes.
  • Conservative Interior Minister Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud was named heir to the throne on the death of Sultan bin Abdulaziz in October 2011, but Nayef himself died in June 2012.
  • Abdullah then named 76-year-old defense minister, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, as crown prince.
  • According to various reports, Abdullah married up to 30 times and had more than 35 children.
  • The king had a personal fortune estimated at US$18 billion, making him the third wealthiest head of state in the world.
  • He died on 23 January 2015, at the age of 90, three weeks after being hospitalized for pneumonia, and was succeeded as king by his half-brother Salman of Saudi Arabia.

Read more at Wikipedia

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