London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 24, 2025

As Arab leaders gather in Saudi Arabia King Salman’s absence looms large

As Arab leaders gather in Saudi Arabia King Salman’s absence looms large

With the king barely seen for 20 months, the crown prince is holding the reins of power – and unbothered by who knows it
Beaming in satisfaction as Arab rulers arrived in Riyadh on Tuesday, Mohammed bin Salman looked like a man in charge. As a succession of planes disgorged heads of state for a regional summit, the Saudi crown prince was there to receive them – standing in for his father at yet another big event.

But as Prince Mohammed ushered leaders of Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain along a purple carpet to a reception hall, the king’s absence loomed large. If the ailing monarch was to reappear in public – a once every five year gathering under his auspices would have been the time and place.

To regional figures, King Salman’s failure to assume his role signalled something more consequential than an heir to the throne being gifted more responsibilities. So significant was the missing monarch that observers in Saudi Arabia say the dynastic shift from father to son has – for all intents and purposes – already taken place.

Over the past 20 months, King Salman has made only one public appearance and has stayed for the duration of the Covid pandemic in the new age city of Neom – the pet project of the man who will one day formally take his throne.

His only recent visit to the seat of Saudi power, Riyadh, was in August 2020 for a successful gallbladder operation. His last audience with a western official was with former UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, five months earlier. When Emmanuel Macron met Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah recently, the king was again nowhere to be seen.

Macron’s visit, the first by a western head of state since the assassination of columnist Jamal Khashoggi three years ago, marked quite a moment for a kingdom anxious to restore standing amid the prolonged global fallout from an extraordinary scandal. King Salman receiving the French president could have been a much-needed kickstart.

Several influential former Saudi officials say they cannot recall a precedent of a Saudi head of state being in the country and not receiving counterparts such as Gulf leaders and Macron, particularly at such a critical juncture. For all intents and purposes, Salman is now king in absentia and seems barely to be performing his duties. Prince Mohammed holds all the reins of Saudi power, and does not seem bothered by who knows it.

Hanging over the absences have been enduring questions surrounding the king’s health. Due to turn 86 on New Year’s Eve, Salman has slowed down since his own years as crown prince. But he is known, both inside the kingdom and in Washington and London, to suffer from a slow onset form of vascular dementia, the symptoms of which were thought to have been mild.

“This has not been a huge factor in recent years, and it is tough to get a read on now with Covid,” said a former western intelligence official. “But it is thought to be more problematic now. It’s certainly a pretext for MbS to keep his father at bay. He is definitely running Saudi Arabia. His father is not.”

Announcing the kingdom’s budget on Monday via video, the king spoke slowly and with a slight slur. Guests who had seen him before Covid brought the shutters down in Saudi Arabia say he was already moving and speaking cautiously. But recent video appearances at cabinet sessions have left some participants speculating about his health.

Whether King Salman’s quasi exile is of his own volition, or is beyond his control, has become the subject of speculation inside the kingdom and around the Gulf, where leaders in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman had been wrestling with the uncertain dynamic between father and son since the latter’s rise to prominence nearly five years ago.

As Prince Mohammed consolidated his power by eliminating family and political rivals, shaking down business leaders and clamping down on dissent, the role of King Salman had remained hotly debated.

In the aftermath of the Khashoggi assassination, Salman took a more assertive stance, appearing more often and reassembling a sidelined old guard as a veritable “court of the wise”. The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, thought the “greybeards” were back calling the shots. He sent a message through the king’s trusted relative, Khaled al-Faisal, that he respected the House of Saud, but not what it was becoming – a pointed barb at Prince Mohammed, whom Turkey, the CIA and other western agencies believe directed Khashoggi’s murder and dismemberment inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

But if Prince Mohammed ever really was chastened, it was not to be for long. By the second half of 2019, officials who dealt with him in Riyadh say he was directing affairs with confidence, ramping up economic reforms and signing off on cultural changes that would have been unthinkable even several years earlier.

King Salam arrived in Neom 15 months ago to sit out Covid. The futuristic Red Sea city has been a viable place to avoid infection and from where to conduct virtual cabinet meetings. But as the crisis has ebbed in Saudi Arabia, so has the plausibility of such a long absence from making in person appearances. The one break from reclusivity came when he received the Sultan of Oman, Prince Haitham bin Tarik in July.

The lineup of missed opportunities includes annual appearances in Mecca for the last 10 days of Ramadan and hajj, celebrations for the seventh year of his inauguration, the festival season in Riyadh and weekly royal court receptions.

“He has cleared his path to the coronation,” the former intelligence official said of the crown prince. “Covid or not, no one can deny that the king is not just missing in action, but likely out of business.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
China and Russia Deploy Seductive Espionage Networks to Infiltrate U.S. Tech Sector
Apple’s ‘iPhone Air’ Collapses After One Month — Another Major Misstep for the Tech Giant
Graham Potter Begins New Chapter as Sweden Head Coach on Short-Term Deal
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa Alleges Poison Plot via Chocolate and Jam
Lakestar to Halt External Fundraising as Investor in Revolut and Spotify
U.S. Innovation Ranking Under Scrutiny as China Leads Output Outputs but Ranks 10th
Three Men Arrested in London on Suspicion of Spying for Russia
Porsche Reverses EV Strategy as New CEO Bets on Petrol and Hybrids
Singapore’s Prime Minister Warns of ‘Messy’ Transition to Post-American Global Order
Andreessen Horowitz Sets Sights on Ten-Billion-Dollar Fund for Tech Surge
US Administration Under President Donald Trump Reportedly Lifts Ban on Ukraine’s Use of Storm Shadow Missiles Against Russia
‘Frightening’ First Night in Prison for Sarkozy: Inmates Riot and Shout ‘Little Nicolas’
White House Announces No Imminent Summit Between Trump and Putin
US and Qatar Warn EU of Trade and Energy Risks from Tough Climate Regulation
Apple Challenges EU Digital Markets Act Crackdown in Landmark Court Battle
Nicolas Sarkozy begins five-year prison term at La Santé in Paris
Japan stocks surge to record as Sanae Takaichi becomes Prime Minister
This Is How the 'Heist of the Century' Was Carried Out at the Louvre in Seven Minutes: France Humiliated as Crown with 2,000 Diamonds Vanishes
China Warns UK of ‘Consequences’ After Delay to London Embassy Approval
France’s Wealthy Shift Billions to Luxembourg and Switzerland Amid Tax and Political Turmoil
"Sniper Position": Observation Post Targeting 'Air Force One' Found Before Trump’s Arrival in Florida
Shouting Match at the White House: 'Trump Cursed, Threw Maps, and Told Zelensky – "Putin Will Destroy You"'
Windows’ Own ‘Siri’ Has Arrived: You Can Now Talk to Your Computer
Thailand and Singapore Investigate Cambodian-Based Prince Group as U.S. and U.K. Sanctions Unfold
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
Chinese Tech Giants Halt Stablecoin Launches After Beijing’s Regulatory Intervention
Manhattan Jury Holds BNP Paribas Liable for Enabling Sudanese Government Abuses
Trump Orders Immediate Release of Former Congressman George Santos After Commuting Prison Sentence
S&P Downgrades France’s Credit Rating, Citing Soaring Debt and Political Instability
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
Diane Keaton’s Cause of Death Revealed as Pneumonia, Family Confirms
Former Lostprophets Frontman Ian Watkins Stabbed to Death in British Prison
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Outsider, Heroine, Trailblazer: Diane Keaton Was Always a Little Strange — and Forever One of a Kind
Dramatic Development in the Death of 'Mango' Founder: Billionaire's Son Suspected of Murder
Two Years of Darkness: The Harrowing Testimonies of Israeli Hostages Emerging From Gaza Captivity
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
HSBC Confronts Strategic Crossroads as NAB Seeks Only Retail Arm in Australia Exit
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
×