ABSTRACT
The late King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz was born in Riyadh in 1905/6, several years after his father Abdulaziz Ibn Saud had recaptured it from Ibn Rashid. When his mother died, Faisal lived with his maternal grandparents. When his eldest brother Faisal ibn Turki died prematurely, Faisal was groomed to take over the number two position in the royal family behind his elder brother Abdulaziz ibn Saud, who was ultimately to succeed Ibn Saud to the throne. At a very early age, therefore, Faisal represented his father in 1919 in London at the celebration of the Allied victory in World War I. Subsequently, in a series of campaigns in the Hijaz, he and his father conquered it. His father became King of the Hijaz and Faisal, Viceroy. A romantic story has been told that Faisal had been instructed to arrange for the marriage of the niece to his father during his visit to Turkey. Instead Faisal married her.
