Mansour bin Abdulaziz Al Saud

Mansour bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (Arabic: منصور بن عبد العزيز آل سعود Manṣūr ibn ‘Abdul‘azīz Āl Su‘ūd; 1921 – 2 May 1951) was a Saudi royal and politician who served as the defense minister of Saudi Arabia between 1943 and 1951. During his lifetime Prince Mansour was the third most powerful son of King Abdulaziz after Prince Faisal and Crown Prince Saud.[1]

Mansour bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
Prince Mansour bin Abdulaziz, first defense minister of Saudi Arabia
Prince Mansour in 1944
Minister of Defense and Aviation
In office10 November 1943 – 2 May 1951
PredecessorOffice established
SuccessorMishaal bin Abdulaziz
MonarchAbdulaziz
Born1921
Riyadh
Died2 May 1951 (aged 29–30)
Paris
Burial
Al Adl cemetery, Mecca
Issue
List
  • Prince Talal
  • Princess Mudhi
Names
Mansour bin Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman bin Faisal Al Saud
HouseAl Saud
FatherKing Abdulaziz
MotherShahida

Early life and education

Prince Mansour was born in Qasr Al Hukm, Riyadh,[2][3] in 1921.[4] He is widely believed to be the ninth son of King Abdulaziz,[5] but William A. Eddy argues that Prince Mansour is the sixth son of Abdulaziz.[6] His mother was an Armenian woman, Shahida (died 1938),[7][8] who was reportedly the favorite wife of King Abdulaziz.[2] She was of Christian origin.[7] Prince Mansour's full siblings were Prince Mishaal, Prince Mutaib, and Princess Qumash.[9][10]

At age seven Prince Mansour's education began with a private tutor, and he studied Quran and Arabic.[11] Then he was sent to the Saudi Institute in Mecca for further education where he received high school-level education on religion, mathematics and geography.[11]

Career and activities

Prince Mansour's first government post was the supervision of the royal palaces in Riyadh which he was appointed in 1938.[11] In 1940 he was made minister of war.[12] In 1942 he participated in King Abdulaziz's meeting with the British ambassador in Riyadh.[11] Prince Mansour was also the emir of Murabba Palace in 1943.[13] He officially visited Cairo when King Abdulaziz sent him there to support the Indian Muslim officers and men just before the Battle of El Alamein.[13][14] Prince Mansour also acted as an aide to Prince Faisal during the latter's post of viceroy of Hijaz.[15]

Then Prince Mansour was appointed minister of defense and aviation by King Abdulaziz on 10 November 1943 when the office was established which had been titled as the ministry of war since 1940.[12][16] Therefore, he is the first defense minister of Saudi Arabia.[17]

In December 1944 Prince Mansour visited Khartoum where Saudi army personnel were trained in driving and maintenance.[8] He and King's another son, Muhammad, accompanied their father in his meetings with the US President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 14 February 1945[6][18] and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Egypt on 17 February 1945.[11][19]

Prince Mansour asked the British to reorganize the Saudi armed forces in November 1944.[20] As a result of this request the first Saudi military personnel were sent to the United Kingdom to receive aviation training at several institutions, including the Training University Air Service, near Southampton, and the Academy of Aviation in Perth, Scotland.[21] Prince Mansour visited the latter group.[21] He also officially visited both the United Kingdom and the United States as a guest of these governments, and his visits were concerned with arms deals.[22]

Prince Mansour also headed the Saudi Arabian Airlines when he was serving as defense minister.[8] His term as defense minister lasted until his death in 1951, and he was replaced by his full brother Prince Mishaal who had been his deputy at the ministry.[16]

Personal life

Prince Mansour was married and had two children, Talal and Muhdi.[23] Prince Talal (1950—2023) was raised by his uncle Prince Mutaib following the death of his father.[4][24] Prince Mutaib's daughter, Princess Nouf, married Prince Talal who became a member of Allegiance Council in December 2007.[25] Prince Mansour's daughter, Mudhi, published a book entitled Al Hijar Wa Natayjiha Fi 'Asir Al Malik 'Abdul'Aziz in 1993.[26]

Unlike his siblings Prince Mansour was fond of automobiles and machines and spent most of his time in the Royal garage in Riyadh.[8]

Death

Prince Mansour had some health issues and went to India for treatment in June 1943. Prince Muhammad and Abdullah Suleiman, his father's advisor, accompanied him in this visit. He also visited Palestine for health issues in October and in November 1943.[8]

Prince Mansour died of a heart attack in Paris on 2 May 1951.[4][27][28] Concerning the cause of Prince Mansour's death there are two other reports arguing that he died of kidney disease.[12][29]

Prince Mansour was buried in Al Adl cemetery in Mecca.[30]

Ancestry

References
  1. Isadore Jay Gold (1984). The United States and Saudi Arabia, 1933-1953: Post-Imperial Diplomacy and the Legacy of British Power (PhD thesis). Columbia University. p. 21. ProQuest 303285941.
  2. Joseph A. Kechichian (2001). Succession In Saudi Arabia. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-312-23880-3.
  3. ""قصر الحكم" يحتفظ بأجمل الذكريات لأفراد الأسرة ... - جريدة الرياض". Al Riyadh (in Arabic). 23 May 2007. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  4. Sharaf Sabri (2001). The House of Saud in Commerce: A Study of Royal Entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia. New Delhi: I.S. Publications. p. 151. ISBN 978-81-901254-0-6.
  5. Nabil Mouline (April–June 2012). "Power and generational transition in Saudi Arabia". Critique Internationale. 46: 1–22. doi:10.3917/crii.046.0125.
  6. William A. Eddy (2005). FDR meets Ibn Saud. Vista: Selwa Press.
  7. Leslie McLoughlin (1993). Ibn Saud: Founder of A Kingdom. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 144, 239. ISBN 978-1-349-22578-1.
  8. "File 11/44 Leading Personalities in Iraq, Iran & Saudi Arabia' [39r] (77/96), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers". Qatar Digital Library. 13 January 1948. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
  9. "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques performs funeral prayer on the soul of Princess Gumash bint Abdulaziz". Riyadh Municipality. 27 September 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  10. "The wise leadership dispatch cables of condolences". Arab Today. 28 September 2011. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  11. Alexander Blay Bligh (1981). Succession to the throne in Saudi Arabia. Court Politics in the Twentieth Century (PhD thesis). Columbia University. pp. 127–129. ProQuest 303101806.
  12. C. H. H. Owen (2020). "On royal duty: HMS Aurora's report of proceedings 1945". In Michael Duffy (ed.). The Naval Miscellany. Vol. VI. London; New York: Routledge. p. 433. ISBN 978-1-00-034082-2.
  13. "The King of Arabia". Life. 31 May 1943. p. 72. ISSN 0024-3019.
  14. George Kheirallah (1952). Arabia Reborn. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press. p. 254. ISBN 9781258502010.
  15. Alejandra Galindo Marines (2001). The relationship between the ulama and the government in the contemporary Saudi Arabian Kingdom: An interdependent relationship (PhD thesis). Durham University.
  16. "Royal Saudi Land Forces History". Global Security. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  17. Stephanie Cronin (2013). "Tribes, Coups and Princes: Building a Modern Army in Saudi Arabia". Middle Eastern Studies. 49 (1): 2–28. doi:10.1080/00263206.2012.743892. S2CID 143713882.
  18. Thomas W. Lippman (April–May 2005). "The Day FDR Met Saudi Arabia's Ibn Saud" (PDF). The Link. 38 (2): 1–12.
  19. "Riyadh. The capital of monotheism" (PDF). Business and Finance Group. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 October 2009.
  20. Matthew Hinds (2012). Anglo-American relations in Saudi Arabia, 1941-1945: a study of a trying relationship (PhD thesis). London School of Economics. p. 167.
  21. Haya Saleh Alhargan (2015). Anglo-Saudi Cultural Relations: Challenges and Opportunities in the Context of Bilateral Ties, 1950-2010 (PhD thesis). King's College London. p. 75.
  22. Abdullah F. Alrebh (2014). The public presentation of authority in Saudi Arabia during the 20th century: A discursive analysis of The London Times and The New York Times (PhD thesis). Michigan State University. ProQuest 1641132379.
  23. "Family Tree of Mansur bin Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud". Datarabia. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  24. "Saudi Royal Court announces the passing of Prince Talal bin Mansour bin Abdulaziz". NNA. 2 July 2023. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  25. Simon Handerson (2009). "After King Abdullah" (Policy paper). The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  26. Talal Sha'yfan Muslat Al Azma (1999). The role of the Ikhwan under 'Abdul'Aziz Al Sa'ud 1916-1934 (PhD thesis). Durham University. p. 17.
  27. "Prince Mansour Dies: 29-Year-Old Son of lbn Saud Is Stricken in Paris". The New York Times. Paris. Associated Press. 3 May 1951. ProQuest 111918210. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  28. "Developments of the Quarter: Comment and Chronology". The Middle East Journal. 3 (3): 351. Summer 1951. JSTOR 4322297.
  29. "Succession in Saudi Arabia" (PDF). Springer. p. 176. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  30. "Al-Adl: One of Makkah's oldest cemeteries". Saudi Gazette. 18 June 2012. Archived from the original on 28 July 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
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