Daily Times

Prince Muhammad Bin Salman Al Saud is the eighth son of King Salman Bin Abdulazia Al Saud and eldest of his full siblings. Born in Jeddah in year 1985, after completing his early education, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in Law from King Saud University.

From his early childhood days, he has showed interest in regional politics and this made him a top notch politician at an early age. He is described as the real power behind his father’s throne. And this is the main reason why on June 21^st, 2017 he was made the Crown Prince of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, replacing his step brother, Muhammad Bin Nayef. Before become the Crown Prince of KSA, Salman has been serving as the youngest defence minister of the world. Currently he has held three key offices, the Defence Minister of KSA, The Deputy Prime Minister of KSA and Crown Prince of KSA. He is also the key force behind Saudi-Led Islamic Military Alliance to fight Islamic State (ISIS) in the region and it was under his tenure when former chief of army staff General Raheel Sharif joined the Saudi-led coalition as Commander-in-Chief of the military alliance.

-A picture of him with Ex-COAS of Pakistan Army, General Raheel Sharif

Prince Salman is the man credited for making KSA stronger than it has ever been. It was in June, 2017 when KSA-US signed an arm deal worth $110Billion, the deal was signed by both the defence ministers of KSA and USA.

-US President Donald J. Trump shakes hand with Prince Salman after finalising $110Billion arm deal

Apart from his political career, he has an eye for sports. The crown prince is said to live a very extravagant life as can be seen when, in the spur of the moment, he purchased a yacht from a Russian tycoon worth €500 million as reported by New York Times Magazine. He has even travelled all over the world while meeting with business leaders, politicians and celebrities; he even met with the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg in June.

-Prince Salman meets Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook headquaters

The prince has been involved in a lot of philanthropic work, in a foundation named Prince Mohammed bin Salman Foundation, otherwise known as MiSK of which he is the Chairman. The overall aim of the foundation is to help uplift the underprivileged and disadvantaged youth, with ties to the UNESCO Youth Form for Change in 2015. It is a platform for the nation’s youth to avail opportunities in both the arts and sciences, by fostering creative potential and innovation and the Prince’s presence has garnered huge amounts of funds.

-Controversy

In September 2015, a stampede took the lives of more than 2236 Hajjj pilgrims. It is said that due to overcrowded and ham packed area, the Prince’s convoy had to fight their way through to make room for the Prince to dispense his religious duties.

Moreover the prince is blamed for the rift between Iran and KSA for his harsh stance on the KSA-IRAN relations and Shia’s blame him for the massive killing of Iranians.