The conservative Wahhabi kingdom Saudi Arabia is ruled by a frail gerontocracy. The seven Sudeiri princes, in order of age - Fahd, Sultan, Naif, Abdul Rahman,Turki, Salman and Ahmad, were sons of King Abdul Aziz (Ibn Saud) and one of his favourite wives, Hussa bint Ahmad al-Sudeiri. Ibn Saud had some 45 recorded sons by as many as 32 wives. A dominant mother, al-Sudeiri insisted that all of her high-profile sons dine with her once a week at home, where they compared notes, jockeyed for position and arranged to divide the spoils. Fahd, the eldest, eventually became king in 1982 and his brothers had long dominated the kingdom. Sultan and Naif were crown princes and died "within a period of eight months".

There were others who were powerful too, particularly their half-brother Abdullah, who controlled the National Guard, a rival military force to the army. Abdullah became king in 2005. The brothers knew that they couldn't stop Abdullah ascending. Yet they did all they could to preserve their power.

The Sudeiris didn't relish Abdullah's accession, in part because he acquired a popularity that Fahd never had, showing a disposition which boded ill for their whole style of rule. He radiates warmth and simplicity, talks to ordinary people and is close to the Saudi tribal way of life. But he has never shared the severely puritanical view of Islam of his country's Wahhabi religious establishment.

Above all, he is honest and free of scandal. The kingdom is in crisis and badly needs the kind of leadership that Saudis hope Abdullah has. He enjoys a reputation for incorruptibility and won respect for his drive to stamp out graft.

He has favoured some reforms in sync with Saudi traditions in order to defuse potentially explosive tensions. One of his responses to the Arab Spring had been to use financial sweeteners to keep the Saudis happy. He also promised Saudi women the vote in future elections to municipal councils. In 2013 he appointed 30 woman to the consultative 150-member Council.

The question is, what Crown Prince Salman, a Sudeiri would do, once he becomes king. Saudi Arabia is a country, in which one doesn't know where the ruling family ends and the state begins. Jobs for Saudis mean essentially government jobs and oil is the main source of revenues. With a widening gap between princes and commoners, waste, corruption, inefficiency, the habit of dependence on foreign labour, the time has come to heed the demands for socio-economic and political reforms.



