Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman
The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has been making ground-breaking global waves following his Vision 2030 plan which aims to diversify Saudi Arabia’s oil-dependent economy, boost the arts and culture scene, and most importantly, generate equal rights for Saudi women by providing them with long-earned seats on the economic, political, socio-cultural tables. Another core pillar of Vision 2030 is ultimately making Saudi Arabia a tourist-friendly environment.
With him taking a visionary stance as a young leader whose ambition and dream is to bring modern changes to an otherwise conservative Arab region, the world couldn’t be more intrigued by him.
AboutHer.com did some digging and we came up with 14 things that you may or may not know about Saudi Arabia’s most influential royal:
- Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is the 1st member of the Saudi royal family to oversee the state oil company, Saudi Aramco. It is the most valuable company in the world and has the market value of between $2-10 trillion USD.
- He married Princess Sara bint Mashoor bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in 2008 and they have 4 children together – 3 little princes and a little princess.
- Master of many trades, the crown prince holds a bachelor degree in law.
- The young Saudi leader graduated 2nd in his class from King Al Saud University and never studied outside of Saudi Arabia unlike many of his cousins who chose to study abroad.
- Did you know the prince's first job after he graduated was in the public sector? He worked as a consultant for several years, before exclusively going into politics.
- A true king of hearts, Mohammed Bin Salman is the man behind the easement of several laws that previously restricted women’s rights. All thanks to him, women can now drive, own their own businesses, join the military and partake and attend sporting events.
- The crown prince was among the Top 10 on TIME 100 Most Influential Poeple in 2018.
- Saudi is set to become a hub of creativity and entertainment through the prince’s vision. Saudi, under his provisions, recently enjoyed a jazz festival attended by men and women together, a comic con, a monster truck rally, and the re-opening of cinemas after 40 years – and a newly set up General Entertainment Authority is preparing for even more entertainment for a Saudi audience who want more.
- Apart from being crown prince, he also holds 3 other positions in the government: First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, and President of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs.
- MBS is the youngest defense minister in the world. He took this role on after his father came into power as King in 2015, making him Minister of Defense at the age of 30.
- The Saudi Arabian royal is also quite the philanthropist. He is the chairman of the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Foundation, MiSK, a non-profit which empowers young people and aims to foster their talents in the creative, scientific, and humanities fields.
- The crown prince is a history aficionado. He is dedicated to preserving historical treasures around the country, and earlier this year he set into motion the restoration of over a 100 historical mosques.
- Known for his charisma and good deeds, the crown prince was awarded "Personality of the Year" by Forbes Middle East in 2013.
- Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman may become the youngest king in the history of Saudi Arabia.
