Princess Reema bint Bandar was raised in Washington, graduated from George Washington University and is the daughter of a former Saudi ambassador to the U.S. | Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Imahes Foreign Policy Saudi Arabia appoints first female ambassador to the U.S.

Saudi Arabia on Saturday named Princess Reema bint Bandar as its new ambassador to the U.S., a move that comes as relations between the two countries continue to be tested over the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Reema's appointment — the first time the Kingdom has named a woman as its top diplomat in Washington — comes amid tensions between the U.S. and its strategic ally in the Middle East over whether Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered Khashoggi's killing in October last year.


The Trump administration has sought to move on from the controversy, but multiple Senate Republicans are pressing the president and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over what they deem to be a lackluster response to a legal requirement that the administration file a report to determine who was responsible for the murder.

Prince Khalid bin Salman, the previous ambassador to the U.S. and younger brother of the crown prince, was named as deputy minister of defense. According to a Washington Post report, he abruptly left the U.S. in October last year as the kingdom began to be pressed over its varying explanations for Khashoggi's disappearance, and did not return until December.

Princess Reema was raised in Washington, graduated from George Washington University and is the daughter of a former Saudi ambassador to the U.S. She has worked in the kingdom to expand opportunities for women in a nation that has historically downgraded the role of women in society.

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Jamal Khashoggi