THE unfolding royal succession plan is a watershed event for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. By prioritizing the country’s third generation princes, Saudi King Salman is hoping to guide the House of Saud through its most critical period since being founded in the 1920s.

Salman decided April 28 that he would be the last son of Abdulaziz bin Abdel-Rehman al-Saud — the founder of the modern kingdom — to rule the country. The monarch removed his half-brother Crown Prince Muqrin from first in the line of succession and elevated Muqrin’s deputy, Prince Mohammed bin Naif, to the position. The king then appointed his own son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as deputy crown prince. Prince Muqrin and Prince Ahmed, the king’s full younger brother, have been superseded. They were the only two able-bodied second-generation al-Sauds remaining, which means that from here onward the throne will be occupied by the founder’s grandsons.

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