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Meet Mohammed bin Salman, the 33-year-old crown prince of Saudi Arabia, who is at the center of human rights issues and drops hundreds of millions of his family's fortune on yachts, mansions and paintings

He was born to King Salman and his third wife, Fahda bint Falah, in 1985.

He was named crown price in June 2017 after his father, King Salman, decided to remove Muhammad bin Nayef from the position.

Rumors later emerged that Mohammed bin Salman had secretly plotted to oust bin Nayef and take his place, The New York Times reported.

Mohammed bin Salman is the 33-year-old crown prince of Saudi Arabia.

After graduating, he worked for several state agencies before being appointed as a special adviser to his father in 2009, who was serving as governor of Riyadh at the time.

In 2012, Prince Mohammed\'s father was named crown prince after the death of Nayef bin Abdul Aziz. Three years later, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz died and the prince\'s father took the throne at the age of 79.

The prince has a bachelor's degree in law from King Saud University, the oldest university in Saudi Arabia.

In 2012, Prince Mohammed's father was named crown prince after the death of Nayef bin Abdul Aziz. Three years later, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz died and the prince's father took the throne at the age of 79.

The prince is known to be a "workaholic" who spends 18 hours of the day in his office, according to The Guardian.

But he reportedly doesn\'t take criticism well.

"People who tried to say no even gently and diplomatically faced consequences," one source from Saudi Arabia told The Guardian.

Prince Mohammed is not yet king, but he "essentially runs the country for his father," 83-year-old King Salman bin Abdulaziz, according to Bloomberg.

But he reportedly doesn't take criticism well.

The prince is known to be a "workaholic" who spends 18 hours of the day in his office, according to The Guardian.

"People who tried to say no even gently and diplomatically faced consequences," one source from Saudi Arabia told The Guardian.

The royal wealth has been accumulated over decades of oil revenue-generated expansion.

There are about 15,000 members of the Saudi royal family, but the majority of the vast fortune is distributed among 2,000 of them , according to CNBC.

The British royal family, for comparison, is worth an estimated $88 billion .

The total wealth of the Saudi royal family is unknown, but it could be worth as much as $1.4 trillion, according to House of Saud, an English language Saudi Royal Family news resource.

Foreign dignitaries and politicians are often hosted at the Al-Yamamah Palace.

During a visit from President Obama to the opulent Erga Palace, reporters spotted gold-plated Kleenex dispensers and gold chairs, according to CBS News.

The royal family is rumored to own several other lavish residences around the world , including in Switzerland, London, France, and Morocco .

Prince Mohammed and his father, King Salman, are often found in "a network of marble-columned palaces and countryside retreats" in Riyadh, according to The New York Times.

He\'s spent hundreds of millions on superyachts , private jets, helicopters, French chateaus, and rare paintings.

Prince Mohammed is known for his extravagant purchases.

He's spent hundreds of millions on superyachts , private jets, helicopters, French chateaus, and rare paintings.

The yacht can sleep 24 guests in 15 cabins.

The prince reportedly bought the superyacht after spotting it while vacationing in the south of France.

The crown prince reportedly owns a $500 million, 440-foot yacht named Serene, which includes an indoor swimming pool and Jacuzzi, two helipads, a helicopter hangar, a gym, and a movie theater.

It wasn\'t until 2017 that news broke that it was the Saudi prince who had bought the Chateau Louis XIV in Louveciennes, which is located west of Paris.

The 17th-century chateau reportedly includes fountains , a sound system, lights, and air conditioning that can all be controlled by an iPhone.

The lavish property also has a wine cellar, a movie theater, and a moat with a transparent underwater chamber.

In 2015, Prince Mohammed bought a chateau in France for $300 million, which was dubbed "the world's most expensive home" by Fortune at the time.

It wasn't until 2017 that news broke that it was the Saudi prince who had bought the Chateau Louis XIV in Louveciennes, which is located west of Paris.

Prince Mohammed made the winning bid on da Vinci\'s "Salvator Mundi" anonymously by phone.

The painting had been estimated to sell for around $100 million leading into the auction.

The prince also picked up a Leonardo da Vinci painting for $450 million at a Christie's auction in 2017.

Prince Mohammed made the winning bid on da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi" anonymously by phone.

Prince Mohammed made the winning bid on da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi" anonymously by phone.

Saudi Arabia has faced criticism for human rights abuses and repressive laws, such as the one that says all Saudi women must have a male guardian.

In February 2019, INSIDER published an investigation detailing how a Saudi app called Absher allows men in Saudi Arabia to track and control where women travel. The reporting prompted Apple CEO Tim Cook to launch an investigation into the app, which is sold on the App Store.

In the fall of 2017, the crown prince was reportedly behind a corruption crackdown that saw more than 200 people arrested and some detained for weeks in a Ritz-Carlton hotel. Saudi Arabia reportedly use coercion and physical abuse during the interrogations.

And according to Al Jazeera , the number of executions in Saudi Arabia has been on the rise: 133 people were executed in the first eight months after MBS became crown prince.

Prince Mohammed has been in the news in recent years for a variety of scandals.

In November, the CIA concluded the journalist was assassinated on the prince\'s orders .

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied that the crown prince had any role in Khashoggi\'s death.

The Saudis denied for weeks that Khashoggi had been killed and repeatedly changed their story. The kingdom later announced that 18 people had been arrested in connection with the killing and said in January that prosecutors would be seeking the death penalty for five suspects.

In the fall of 2018, the crown prince faced global outcry over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul.

In November, the CIA concluded the journalist was assassinated on the prince's orders .

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied that the crown prince had any role in Khashoggi's death.

After the CIA concluded that MBS ordered the killing of Khashoggi, Trump expressed support for MBS, Al Jazeera reported in December 2018 .

As Business Insider previously reported , Trump has had deep business ties with the Saudi Arabian court for more than two decades.

And Jared Kushner, the president\'s son-in-law, has reportedly pushed for closer ties with Saudi Arabia and particularly with Prince Mohammed.

Kushner and the crown prince have had a close relationship for more than two years, Business Insider\'s Ellen Cranley reported.

While many world leaders have publicly condemned Prince Mohammed after Khashoggi's death, President Trump has said we may never know if Prince Mohammed ordered the killing of the journalist or not.

And Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, has reportedly pushed for closer ties with Saudi Arabia and particularly with Prince Mohammed.

Kushner and the crown prince have had a close relationship for more than two years, Business Insider's Ellen Cranley reported.

Putin\'s enthusiastic greeting of the Saudi prince at G20 came right after other world leaders had condemned Saudi Arabia for the killing of Khashoggi.

Other world leaders appeared to ignore the crown prince in a group photo at the summit.

At the G20 Summit in Argentina in December 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin was seen enthusiastically greeting the Saudi prince.

Putin's enthusiastic greeting of the Saudi prince at G20 came right after other world leaders had condemned Saudi Arabia for the killing of Khashoggi.

In the spring of 2018, Prince Mohammed met with Apple CEO Tim Cook , Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

His west coast tour also included a stop in Seattle to meet with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Saudi Arabia\'s Public Investment Fund owns 5% of Uber, according to the ride-sharing company\'s most recent S-1 filing. The fund is also a top investor in Softbank\'s massive Vision Fund, which owns 16% of Uber as well as sizable stakes in companies like Slack, WeWork, and DoorDash.

Beyond politics, the prince has ties to top US technology companies and has toured some of Silicon Valley's top firms, including Google and Apple.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund owns 5% of Uber, according to the ride-sharing company's most recent S-1 filing. The fund is also a top investor in Softbank's massive Vision Fund, which owns 16% of Uber as well as sizable stakes in companies like Slack, WeWork, and DoorDash.

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Inside the Saudi Crown Prince’s AU$600 Million Superyacht “Serene”

• Michael Lozina
• July 11, 2023

The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, is not just rich, he’s uber rich with a net worth estimated to be $25 billion USD. Small wonder then that his superyacht Serene is worth around $600 million AUD and comes equipped with all the bells and whistles. Some you’d expect, others not so much. 

This yacht is big measuring at 439 feet (133.8 metres) in length with 4,500 square feet (418 sqm) of space making it the 22nd largest yacht in the world. 

It was originally built for Russian vodka tycoon, Yuri Shefler, by Italian yard Fincantieri with interior work done by Reymond Langton in 2011 before being bought by the Crown Prince in 2014 for € 500 million. 

Serene has seven decks, two helipads, a hanger, a custom submarine (certified to 100m depth), and underwater viewing ports in the Nemo room. She can fit up to 24 guests and 62 crew members. 

The most peculiar feature of Serene is the snow room. This room is kept at the freezing temperature of -11 degrees Celsius (12 degrees Fahrenheit), with real snow falling from the ceiling. This room looks like somewhere Mr. Freeze would call his lair. 

Other features include a massive internal saltwater pool, a children’s play area (with slides flowing between the decks), a fully-equipped health spa and beach club, a full conference room, an outdoor cinema, and a pizza oven. 

If the features and toys aren’t enough for you, there’s a Leonardo da Vinci painting, Salvator Mundi , displayed on board (as reported by the Wall Street Journal ), though the attribution to the historic artist is a matter of debate amongst experts. It was bought in November 2017 for $450.3 million USD at Christie’s, setting a record for the most expensive painting ever sold at a public auction. 

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SERENE Yacht – Dreamlike $400M Superyacht

The impressive yacht was designed by Espen Øino International, with interior design by Reymond Langton Design.

Built by shipbuilders Fincantieri, SERENE was delivered in 2011 from their Muggiano-based shipyard. The superyacht is the epitome of luxury and offers an excellent yachting experience.

SERENE yacht interior

 British designer  Reymond Langton Design  penned the interior design of the SERENE yacht. The superyacht can accommodate 24 guests across 12 cabins in 1 master suite, 1 VIP, seven doubles, and three twins.

There is accommodation for 62 crew on the 134m yacht that ensures that guests have a lavish and luxurious experience.

The yacht’s amenities include seven swimming pools, an underwater viewing room, and a health spa.

The beach club stretches almost throughout the interior length of the yacht, providing an excellent indoor-outdoor area for guests to enjoy on the water level.

The beach club features one of the most advanced swimming pools built onboard a superyacht.

A dedicated children’s playroom makes the yacht a family-friendly yachting experience for guests. There is an indoor climbing wall, a top deck with a wet bar, and a jacuzzi.

The SERENE yacht has another spa pool on the sun deck for relaxation on the water, surrounded by sun loungers.

The yacht also has two helicopter pads. The fun features of the yacht include a pizza oven and a teppanyaki grill on board. The yacht’s interior is defined as modern and luxurious with attention to detail.

The yacht also features many social spaces for guests to use and a conference room to conduct business on board.

Espen Øino International penned the expert exterior design of the SERENE yacht.

The 134m vessel presents an imposing with six decks, a blue steel hull, and a white aluminum superstructure. She was built by  Fincantieri  in their Muggiano shipyard and delivered in 2011.

An impressive display of underwater lights emphasizes the yacht’s exterior during the night.

The yacht was the first ever to be built by the Italian shipyard, which had primarily focused on commercial ships before. 

Specifications

The 133.9m superrich has a beam of 18.6m and a draft of 5.6m. She has a massive volume of 8321 gross tons powered by 8 MTU engines.

With a range of 5000 nautical miles, she has a maximum speed of 18 knots and a cruising speed of 14 knots.

The SERENE yacht is one of the largest yachts in the world; at the time of her delivery, she was placed at the 9th largest yacht in the world. She has a $25 – $35 million running cost per year.

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Is the $450m Salvator Mundi really on a Saudi yacht?

The crown prince of saudi arabia’s luxury vessel has unexpectedly circumnavigated europe and docked in the netherlands.

The route of the Serene, the yacht owned by the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman © Route data from marinetraffic.com; yacht: Nick Wells; map: Vectorfree maps; illustration © The Art Newspaper

Ever since the Louvre in Paris opened its Leonardo exhibition sans Salvator Mundi two weeks ago, speculation has run high that the $450m painting might yet appear in the display before it closes in February. A missing catalogue entry suggests the panel nearly made it to Paris as do the indemnity arrangements secured by the museum which include differing insurance caps for the show depending on whether the Salvator Mundi is included.

We have been here before. In December 2017, the Louvre Abu Dhabi announced in a tweet that “[we] are looking forward to displaying the Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci”. Then, nothing. No painting. No explanation. And no replies to the numerous press queries.

The silence stoked the wild and ongoing press speculation about the painting’s location, ownership and attribution (yes, guilty). The painting has “vanished” declared numerous newspapers; it is “lost” and “will never be seen again” lamented others. Theories about its location ranged from the sensibile (it is in storage in Switzerland) to the seemingly outlandish: it is on a yacht owned by the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The prince, who is widely believed to have bought the Salvator Mundi at Christie’s New York on 15 November 2017 via an intermediary, “whisked away [the painting] in the middle of the night on [his] plane and relocated it to his yacht, the Serene,” according to a report by Kenny Schachter published on Artnet on 10 June.

Is the Salvator Mundi en route to Paris?

Citing two sources “involved in the [sale]” of the work, Schachter speculated that the prince will keep the world’s most expensive painting on the superyacht he bought for €500m in 2015 from the Russian vodka tycoon Yuri Shefler until it goes on display in the ancient Saudi precinct of Al-Ula which is currently being transformed into a vast cultural hub .

The suggestion was widely reported in the mainstream media and simultaneously dismissed by dubious art world experts. Nobody would keep a painting that valuable at sea, no matter how well provisioned the yacht or how well guarded.

And yet. Inquisitive minds will enquire. We started tracking the Serene the same day we read Schachter’s report. In June, the superyacht was moored near the Egyptian city of Port Said in the Mediterranean. And there it remained for weeks. Later, it headed south into the Red Sea, moving yet further away from Paris and the Louvre.

And then something unexpected happened. On 25 October, the day after the public opening of the Louvre’s Leonardo exhibition, the Serene abruptly departed the Red Sea and headed north towards the Suez Canal. It navigated through the passage and turned west, crossing the Mediterranean. After passing through the Strait of Gibraltar, it turned north, navigating past Portugal before making a brief stop in Spain. Then, it continued its journey north, passing past France before turning east into the English Channel. And finally, yesterday, the Serene was scheduled to dock at the port of Vlissingen in the Netherlands, a four-and-a-half-hour journey from Paris, at 8pm according to a route forecast from MarineTraffic.com (at the time of publication, an updated position report was not yet available).

Why would a superyacht, which usually moves from one warm-weather, billionaire’s playground to the next, suddenly circumnavigate Europe and head into the North Sea? Will the Salvator Mundi be unloaded today and transported to the Louvre? Could Schachter have been right all along? If the Salvator Mundi appears in Paris in the next week we may deduce so. If not, consider this just one more speculative story fuelling the myth surrounding the most talked about Old Master painting of our times.

Obviously, the Louvre declined to comment.

Power, oil and a $450m painting - insiders on the rise of Saudi's Crown Prince

In January 2015, Abdullah, the 90-year-old king of Saudi Arabia, was dying in hospital. His half-brother, Salman, was about to become king – and Salman’s favourite son, Mohammed bin Salman, was preparing for power.

The prince, known simply by his initials MBS and then just 29 years old, had big plans for his kingdom, the biggest plans in its history; but he feared that plotters within his own Saudi royal family could eventually move against him. So at midnight one evening that month, he summoned a senior security official to the palace, determined to win his loyalty.

The official, Saad al-Jabri, was told to leave his mobile phone on a table outside. MBS did the same. The two men were now alone. The young prince was so fearful of palace spies that he pulled the socket out of the wall, disconnecting the only landline telephone.

According to Jabri, MBS then talked about how he would wake his kingdom up from its deep slumber, allowing it to take its rightful place on the global stage. By selling a stake in the state oil producer Aramco, the world’s most profitable company, he would begin to wean his economy off its dependency on oil. He would invest billions in Silicon Valley tech startups including the taxi firm, Uber. Then, by giving Saudi women the freedom to join the workforce, he would create six million new jobs.

Astonished, Jabri asked the prince about the extent of his ambition. “Have you heard of Alexander the Great?” came the simple reply.

MBS ended the conversation there. A midnight meeting that was scheduled to last half-an-hour had gone on for three. Jabri left the room to find several missed calls on his mobile from government colleagues worried about his long disappearance.

The Kingdom: The World’s Most Powerful Prince

The story of the extraordinary rise to power of the man who runs Saudi Arabia and whose control of oil affects everyone, starting with how he outwitted hundreds of rivals to become crown prince.

Watch on BBC iPlayer

For the past year, our documentary team has been talking to both Saudi friends and opponents of MBS, as well as senior Western spies and diplomats. The Saudi government was given the opportunity to respond to the claims made in the BBC’s films and in this article. They chose not to do so.

Saad al-Jabri was so high up in the Saudi security apparatus that he was friends with the heads of the CIA and MI6. While the Saudi government has called Jabri a discredited former official, he’s also the most well-informed Saudi dissident to have dared speak about how the crown prince rules Saudi Arabia – and the rare interview he has given us is astonishing in its detail.

By gaining access to many who know the prince personally, we shed new light on the events that have made MBS notorious – including the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the launch of a devastating war in Yemen .

With his father increasingly frail, the 38-year-old MBS is now de facto in charge of the birthplace of Islam and the world’s biggest exporter of oil. He’s begun to carry out many of the groundbreaking plans he described to Saad al-Jabri – while also being accused of human rights violations including the suppression of free speech, widespread use of the death penalty and jailing of women's rights activists.

An inauspicious start

The first king of Saudi Arabia fathered at least 42 sons, including MBS’s father, Salman. The crown has traditionally been passed down between these sons. It was when two of them suddenly died in 2011 and 2012 that Salman was elevated into the line of succession.

Western spy agencies make it their business to study the Saudi equivalent of Kremlinology – working out who will be the next king. At this stage, MBS was so young and unknown that he wasn’t even on their radar.

“He grew up in relative obscurity,” says Sir John Sawers, chief of MI6 until 2014. “He wasn’t earmarked to rise to power.”

The crown prince also grew up in a palace in which bad behaviour had few, if any, consequences ; and that may help explain his notorious habit of not thinking through the impact of his decisions until he had already made them.

MBS first achieved notoriety in Riyadh in his late teens, when he was nicknamed “Abu Rasasa” or “Father of the Bullet”, after allegedly sending a bullet in the post to a judge who had overruled him in a property dispute.

“He has had a certain ruthlessness,” observes Sir John Sawers. “He doesn’t like to be crossed. But that also means he’s been able to drive through changes that no other Saudi leader has been able to do.”

Among the most welcome changes, the former MI6 chief says, has been cutting off Saudi funding to overseas mosques and religious schools that became breeding grounds for Islamist jihadism – at huge benefit to the safety of the West.

MBS’s mother, Fahda, is a Bedouin tribeswoman and seen as the favourite of his father’s four wives. Western diplomats believe the king has suffered for many years from a slow-onset form of vascular dementia ; and MBS was the son he turned to for help.

Several diplomats recalled for us their meetings with MBS and his father. The prince would write notes on an iPad, then send them to his father’s iPad, as a way of prompting what he would say next.

“Inevitably I wondered whether MBS was typing out his lines for him,” recalls Lord Kim Darroch, National Security Adviser to David Cameron when he was British Prime minister.

The prince was apparently so impatient for his father to become king that in 2014, he reportedly suggested killing the then-monarch – Abdullah, his uncle – with a poisoned ring, obtained from Russia.

“I don’t know for sure if he was just bragging, but we took it seriously,” says Jabri. The former senior security official says he has seen a secretly recorded surveillance video of MBS talking about the idea. “He was banned from court, from shaking hands with the king, for a considerable amount of time.”

In the event, the king died of natural causes, allowing his brother, Salman, to assume the throne in 2015. MBS was appointed Defence Minister and lost no time in going to war.

War in Yemen

Two months later, the prince led a Gulf coalition into war against the Houthi movement, which had seized control of much of western Yemen and which he saw as a proxy of Saudi Arabia’s regional rival Iran. It triggered a humanitarian disaster, with millions on the brink of famine.

“It wasn’t a clever decision,” says Sir John Jenkins, who was British ambassador just before the war began. “One senior American military commander told me they had been given 12 hours’ notice of the campaign, which is unheard of.”

The military campaign helped turn a little-known prince into a Saudi national hero. However, it was also the first of what even his friends believe have been several major mistakes.

A recurring pattern of behaviour was emerging: MBS’s tendency to jettison the traditionally slow and collegiate system of Saudi decision-making, preferring to act unpredictably or upon impulse; and refusing to kowtow to the US, or be treated as head of a backward client state.

Jabri goes much further, accusing MBS of forging his father the king’s signature on a royal decree committing ground troops.

Jabri says he discussed the Yemen war in the White House before it started; and that Susan Rice, President Obama’s National Security Advisor, warned him that the US would only support an air campaign.

However, Jabri claims MBS was so determined to press ahead in Yemen that he ignored the Americans.

“We were surprised that there was a royal decree to allow the ground interventions,” Jabri says. “He forged the signature of his dad for that royal decree. The king’s mental capacity was deteriorating.”

Jabri says his source for this allegation was “credible, reliable” and linked to the Ministry of Interior where he was chief of staff.

Jabri recalls the CIA station chief in Riyadh telling him how angry he was that MBS had ignored the Americans, adding that the invasion of Yemen should never have happened.

The former MI6 chief Sir John Sawers says that while he doesn’t know if MBS forged the documents, “it is clear that this was MBS’s decision to intervene militarily in Yemen. It wasn’t his father’s decision, although his father was carried along with it.”

We’ve discovered that MBS saw himself as an outsider from the very beginning - a young man with much to prove and a refusal to obey anybody’s rules other than his own.

Kirsten Fontenrose, who served on President Donald Trump’s National Security Council, says that when she read the CIA’s in-house psychological profile of the prince, she felt it missed the point.

“There were no prototypes to base him on,” she says. “He has had unlimited resources. He has never been told ‘no’. He is the first young leader to reflect a generation that, frankly, most of us in government are too old to understand.”

Making his own rules

MBS’s purchase of a famous painting in 2017 tells us much about how he thinks, and his willingness to be a risk-taker, unafraid to be out of step with the religiously conservative society that he governs. And above all, determined to outplay the West in conspicuous displays of power.

In 2017, a Saudi prince reportedly acting for MBS spent $450m (£350m) on the Salvator Mundi, which remains the world’s most expensive work of art ever sold . The portrait, reputed to have been painted by Leonardo da Vinci, depicts Jesus Christ as master of heaven and Earth, the saviour of the world. For almost seven years, ever since the auction, it has completely disappeared .

Bernard Haykel, a friend of the crown prince and Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, says that despite rumours that it hangs in the prince's yacht or palace, the painting is actually in storage in Geneva and that MBS intends to hang it in a museum in the Saudi capital that has not yet been built.

“I want to build a very large museum in Riyadh,” Haykel quotes MBS as saying. “And I want an anchor object that will attract people, just like the Mona Lisa does.”

Similarly, his plans for sport reflect someone who is both hugely ambitious and unafraid to disrupt the status quo.

Saudi Arabia’s incredible spending spree on world-class sport – it is the sole bidder to host the FIFA World Cup in 2034, and has made multimillion-dollar investments in staging tournaments for tennis and golf – has been called “sportswashing”. But what we found is a leader who cares less about what the West thinks of him than he does about demonstrating the opposite: that he will do whatever he wants in the name of making himself and Saudi Arabia great.

“MBS is interested in building his own power as a leader,” says Sir John Sawers, the former Chief of MI6, who has met him. “And the only way he can do that is by building his country’s power. That’s what’s driving him.”

Jabri’s 40-year career as a Saudi official did not survive MBS’s consolidation of power. Chief of staff for the former Crown Prince Muhammed bin Nayef, he fled the kingdom as MBS was taking over, after being tipped off by a foreign intelligence service that he could be in danger. But Jabri says MBS texted him out of the blue, offering him his old job back.

“It was bait – and I didn’t bite,” Jabri says, convinced he would have been tortured, imprisoned or killed if he returned. As it was, his teenage children, Omar and Sarah, were detained and later jailed for money laundering and for trying to escape – charges that they deny. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has called for their release .

“He planned for my assassination,” Jabri says. “He will not rest until he sees me dead, I have no doubt about that.”

Saudi officials have issued Interpol notices for Jabri’s extradition from Canada, without success. They claim he is wanted for corruption involving billions of dollars during his time at the interior ministry. However, he was given the rank of major-general and credited by the CIA and MI6 with helping to prevent al-Qaeda terrorist attacks .

Khashoggi’s killing

The killing of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 implicates MBS in ways that are very hard to refute. The 15-strong hit squad was travelling on diplomatic passports and included several of MBS’s own bodyguards. Khashoggi’s body has never been found and is believed to have been hacked into pieces with a bone saw.

Professor Haykel exchanged WhatsApp messages with MBS not long after the murder. “I was asking, ‘how could this happen?’,” Haykel recalls. “I think he was in deep shock. He didn’t realise the reaction to this was going to be as deep.”

Dennis Ross met MBS shortly afterwards. “He said he didn’t do it and that it was a colossal blunder,” says Ross. “I certainly wanted to believe him, because I couldn’t believe that he could authorise something [like] that.”

MBS has always denied knowledge of the plot, although in 2019 he said he took “responsibility" because the crime happened on his watch. A declassified US intelligence repor t released in February 2021 asserted that he was complicit in the killing of Khashoggi.

I asked those who know MBS personally whether he had learned from his mistakes; or whether having survived the Khashoggi affair, it had in fact emboldened him.

“He’s learned lessons the hard way,” says Professor Haykel, who says MBS resents the case being used as cudgel against him and his country, but that a killing like Khashoggi’s would not happen again.

Sir John Sawers cautiously agrees that the murder was a turning point. “I think he has learned some lessons. The personality, though, remains the same.”

His father, King Salman, is now aged 88. When he dies, MBS could rule Saudi Arabia for the next 50 years.

However, he has recently admitted he fears being assassinated, possibly as a consequence of his attempts to normalise Saudi-Israeli ties.

“I think there are lots of people who want to kill him,” says Professor Haykel, “and he knows it.”

Eternal vigilance is what keeps a man like MBS safe. It was what Saad al-Jabri observed at the beginning of the prince’s rise to power, when he pulled the telephone socket out of the wall before speaking to him in his palace.

MBS is still a man on a mission to modernise his country, in ways his predecessors would never have dared. But he’s also not the first autocrat who runs the risk of being so ruthless that nobody around him dares prevent him from making more mistakes.

Jonathan Rugman is consultant producer on The Kingdom: The world’s most powerful prince

Top picture: Getty Images

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The Saudi crown prince has reportedly detained 3 royal family members for unknown reasons. Meet 34-year-old Mohammed bin Salman, who's at the center of human rights issues and drops millions on yachts and mansions.

• Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has detained three members of the Saudi royal family for "unexplained reasons," The New York Times' David D. Kirkpatrick and Ben Hubbard reported on Friday.
• Prince Mohammed is the 34-year-old future king of Saudi Arabia.
• He controls part of the royal family's vast wealth, which is estimated at up to $1.4 trillion and includes Saudi Aramco , the most valuable company in the world .
• Prince Mohammed has spent his fortune on a $500 million yacht , a $300 million French chateau , and a $450 million Leonardo da Vinci painting.
• In 2018, bin Salman faced global outcry over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi , who the CIA later concluded was assassinated on the prince's orders . 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .

Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the future king of Saudi Arabia, has detained three members of the Saudi royal family for "unexplained reasons," The New York Times' David D. Kirkpatrick and Ben Hubbard reported on Friday.

The crown prince, known as MBS, arrested senior royal Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, former crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef, and his younger brother, Prince Nawaf bin Nayef, a relative and a person close to the royal family told the Times.

The 34-year-old heir will ascend to the throne after the death of his father, 84-year-old King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. The crown prince has become a controversial global political figure, particularly so in the fall of 2018, when he faced global outcry over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi , who the CIA later concluded was assassinated on the prince's orders . In January, he was accused of hacking the personal cell phone of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos , an allegation the  Saudi embassy called "absurd."

Prince Mohammed is known for his lavish spending. He has bought a $500 million yacht , a $300 million French chateau , and a $450 million Leonardo da Vinci painting. According to one estimate, the Saudi royal family — which has about 15,000 members — is worth up to $1.4 trillion .

The royal family's empire includes Saudi Aramco , the massive, state-owned oil company became  the most valuable company in the world when it went public in December 2019.

Here's a look at the lavish — and controversial — lifestyle of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Mohammed bin Salman is the 34-year-old crown prince of Saudi Arabia.

He was born to King Salman and his third wife, Fahda bint Falah, in 1985.

He was named crown price in June 2017 after his father, King Salman, decided to remove Muhammad bin Nayef from the position.

Rumors later emerged that Mohammed bin Salman had secretly plotted to oust bin Nayef and take his place, The New York Times reported.

The prince has a bachelor's degree in law from King Saud University, the oldest university in Saudi Arabia.

After graduating, he worked for several state agencies before being appointed as a special adviser to his father in 2009, who was serving as governor of Riyadh at the time.

In 2012, Prince Mohammed's father was named crown prince after the death of Nayef bin Abdul Aziz. Three years later, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz died and the prince's father took the throne at the age of 79.

Prince Mohammed is not yet king, but he "essentially runs the country for his father," 84-year-old King Salman bin Abdulaziz, according to Bloomberg.

The prince is known to be a "workaholic" who spends 18 hours of the day in his office, according to The Guardian.

But he reportedly doesn't take criticism well.

"People who tried to say no even gently and diplomatically faced consequences," one source from Saudi Arabia told The Guardian.

The total wealth of the Saudi royal family is unknown, but it could be worth as much as $1.4 trillion, according to House of Saud, an English-language Saudi Royal Family news resource.

The royal wealth has been accumulated over decades of oil revenue-generated expansion.

There are about 15,000 members of the Saudi royal family, but the majority of the vast fortune is distributed among 2,000 of them , according to CNBC.

The British royal family, for comparison, is worth an estimated $88 billion .

The Saudi royal family's empire includes Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil giant that reached a record-high valuation of $2 trillion after going public in December 2019.

That makes it the most valuable company in the world , outstripping the market capitalizations of the biggest US giants, including Microsoft , Apple, and Google's parent, Alphabet.

It's worth more than Berkshire Hathaway, Facebook, and Amazon combined. 

Saudi officials had been seeking a valuation of $2 trillion for the company, but most banks had pegged their initial estimates much lower, Bloomberg reported.

Aramco announced revenue of $68 billion in the first nine months of 2019, making it the most profitable company in the world.

Prince Mohammed and his father, King Salman, are often found in "a network of marble-columned palaces and countryside retreats" in Riyadh, according to The New York Times.

Foreign dignitaries and politicians are often hosted at the Al-Yamamah Palace.

During a visit from President Obama to the opulent Erga Palace, reporters spotted gold-plated Kleenex dispensers and gold chairs, according to CBS News.

The royal family is rumored to own several other lavish residences around the world , including in Switzerland, London, France, and Morocco .

Prince Mohammed is known for his extravagant purchases.

He's spent hundreds of millions on superyachts , private jets, helicopters, French chateaus, and rare paintings.

The crown prince reportedly owns a $500 million, 440-foot yacht named Serene, which includes multiple swimming pools and hot tubs, two helipads, a helicopter hangar, a gym, and a movie theater.

The yacht can sleep 24 guests in 15 cabins.

The prince reportedly bought the superyacht after spotting it while vacationing in the south of France.

In 2015, Prince Mohammed bought a chateau in France for $300 million, which was dubbed "the world's most expensive home" by Fortune at the time.

It wasn't until 2017 that news broke that it was the Saudi prince who had bought the Chateau  Louis XIV in Louveciennes, which is located west of Paris.

The 17th-century chateau reportedly includes fountains , a sound system, lights, and air conditioning that can all be controlled by an iPhone.

The lavish property also has a wine cellar, a movie theater, and a moat with a transparent underwater chamber.

The prince also picked up a Leonardo da Vinci painting for $450 million at a Christie's auction in 2017.

Prince Mohammed made the winning bid on da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi" anonymously by phone.

The painting had been estimated to sell for around $100 million leading into the auction.

Prince Mohammed has been in the news in recent years for a variety of scandals.

Saudi Arabia has faced criticism for human rights abuses and repressive laws, such as the one that says all Saudi women must have a male guardian.

In February 2019, INSIDER published an investigation detailing how a Saudi app called Absher allows men in Saudi Arabia to track and control where women travel. The reporting prompted Apple CEO Tim Cook to launch an investigation into the app, which is sold on the App Store.

In the fall of 2017, the crown prince was reportedly behind a corruption crackdown that saw more than 200 people arrested and some detained for weeks in a Ritz-Carlton hotel. Saudi Arabia reportedly use coercion and physical abuse during the interrogations.

And according to Al Jazeera , the number of executions in Saudi Arabia has been on the rise: 133 people were executed in the first eight months after MBS became crown prince.

In the fall of 2018, the crown prince faced global outcry over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul.

In November 2018, the CIA concluded the journalist was assassinated on the prince's orders .

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly  denied that the crown prince had any role in Khashoggi's death.

The Saudis denied for weeks that Khashoggi had been killed and repeatedly changed their story. The kingdom later announced that 18 people had been arrested in connection with the killing and said in January 2019 that prosecutors would be seeking the death penalty for five suspects.

While many world leaders have publicly condemned Prince Mohammed after Khashoggi's death, President Trump has said we may never know if Prince Mohammed ordered the killing of the journalist or not.

After the CIA concluded that MBS ordered the killing of Khashoggi, Trump expressed support for MBS, Al Jazeera reported in December 2018 .

As Business Insider previously reported , Trump has had deep business ties with the Saudi Arabian court for more than two decades.

And Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, has reportedly pushed for closer ties with Saudi Arabia and particularly with Prince Mohammed.

Kushner and the crown prince have had a close relationship for more than 2 years, Business Insider's Ellen Cranley reported.

At the G20 Summit in Argentina in December 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin was seen enthusiastically greeting the Saudi prince.

Putin's enthusiastic greeting of the Saudi prince at G20 came right after other world leaders had condemned Saudi Arabia for the killing of Khashoggi.

Other world leaders appeared to ignore the crown prince in a group photo at the summit.

Beyond politics, the prince has ties to top US technology companies and has toured some of Silicon Valley's top firms, including Google and Apple.

In the spring of 2018, Prince Mohammed met with Apple CEO Tim Cook , Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

His west coast tour also included a stop in Seattle to meet with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund owns 5% of Uber, according to the ride-sharing company's most recent S-1 filing. The fund is also a top investor in Softbank's massive Vision Fund, which owns 16% of Uber as well as sizable stakes in companies like Slack, WeWork, and DoorDash.

In January 2020, the United Nations said it had received credible information that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos had his phone hacked by Prince Mohammed.

The UN called for an "immediate investigation by US and other relevant authorities" into the matter of Bezos reporting his phone being hacked.

According to the UN report, Bezos gave Prince Mohammed his personal phone number after the two attended a small dinner together in Los Angeles in April 2018. A month later, the crown prince allegedly sent a malicious file to Bezos' phone that stole data from the device.

The Saudi government has denied the allegations , calling them "absurd."

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Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman 'buys £452m yacht' but slashes public spending

The royal has helped to implement economic reforms including slashing the state budget at a time of low oil prices, article bookmarked.

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A senior member of Saudi Arabia’s royal family bought a £452 million yacht before helping push through drastic austerity measures within the country.

Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman picked out a Russian tycoon’s 440ft ship while holidaying in the south of France, according to the New York Times .

Prince Mohammed has frozen government contracts and it emerged this month that the country's capital spending was dropping by 71 per cent in 2016.

The article claims Prince Mohammed dispatched an aid to buy Yuri Shefler’s vessel after spotting it floating off the coast.

The deal - reported at €500 million, £452 million by today’s exchange rate - was done within hours, according to an associate of Mr Shefler and a Saudi close to the royal family.

The Russian apparently moved off the yacht the same day.

Part of the reform measures that Prince Mohammed is responsible for includes

cutting ministers pay by 20 per cent .

Joseph Kechichian , a senior fellow at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, said: “I am persuaded as someone who focuses on this topic that the ruling family of Saudi Arabia above all else puts the interest of the family first and foremost.”

The Independent has contacted the House of Saud for comment.

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Sneak a peek into the lavish interiors of Saudi Crown Prince's yacht

        View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by BENEDETTA IOVANE, The Luxury Yacht Lady (@b.lex_benedettaiovane)

The megayacht owned by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, worth $400 million, features a special snow room for the royal family to relax in during the scorching waves in Riyadh.

It's no secret that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud of Saudi Arabia has refined taste. This is particularly evident in his 133.9-meter yacht Serene, valued at $400 million, which sails as a testament to his taste.

The superyacht offers much more than its robust exterior, high price, and impressive length. Many elements in the interior make Serene a true masterpiece. One prominent feature is the snow room. This special room is cooled to minus 12 degrees and has real snow falling from the ceiling. In addition to the warm Saudi summers, the snow room is ideal for relaxation and a jump into the sauna.

The 133.9-meter yacht from Fincantieri shipyard was the first to include a snow room when it was delivered in 2011. Several motor yachts such as Faith and Ragnar have followed suit, but not all can boast such beautifully executed spaces like Serene.

This work by Reymond Langton Design studio stands out among other striking features and a seemingly endless list of amenities. Interestingly, the snow room is part of Serene thanks to its original owner, Russian oligarch Yuri Shefler. The deep-pocketed owner wanted a room on his yacht where actual snow would fall.

"The clients wanted a place on the yacht where they could enjoy real snow. When the client is from a cold country like Russia, where they're used to ice baths, it's quite normal. However, it's quite incredible to see this fresh, beautiful snow on a yacht—and quite surreal to look out the window into the sun and people in swimsuits."

This Italian-made yacht is so impressive that even billionaire Bill Gates couldn't resist its charms and rented it (for $5 million per week in 2014) for a few days for a family vacation.

        View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by SuperYachtFan (@superyachtfan)

What makes Serene so special that it stands out among a sea of superyachts? Serene is the largest yacht ever built in Italy and has over 400 square meters of interior space spread across seven decks, two helipads, and a hangar. Considering the large families that stay on the yacht Serene, the thoughtful Crown Prince has also installed a children's playground with a climbing wall. Depending on the entertainment needs, one of the two helipads can transform into another pool or dance floor. Serene is available for charter and offers a multitude of fun activities.

The yacht features a "between-decks" slide, an exciting underwater observation room, and plenty of toys. After a day filled with action, relaxation and rejuvenation can be found in the wellness and beauty centre, complete with spa facilities and a soothing hammam.

Before retiring to their cabins, guests can catch a movie in the open-air cinema or enjoy music and conversations in the piano and bar room.

        View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Fincantieri Yachts (@fincantieriyachts)

How did the yacht end up in the hands of the Middle Eastern royal family? Prince Salman was on vacation in southern France in early 2016 when he spotted the magnificent luxury yacht on the coast. Not only did the stunning yacht catch his eye, but MBS immediately sent an aide to purchase it from Russian tycoon Yuri Shefler. Within a few hours, the yacht with two helipads, a submarine, and a nightclub became the property of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. He loves the yacht so much that he adorned one of the most expensive paintings in the world, Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, purchased for $450 million in 2017 (which is more expensive than the yacht itself).

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Inside Mohammed bin Salman’s amazing £44million superyacht with cinema room and £330m Leonardo da Vinci painting on wall

• Katie Davis
• Published : 12:10, 7 Oct 2021
• Updated : 11:10, 27 Jan 2024

SAUDI Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the proud owner of a £44million superyacht.

The impressive 78m vessel - which comes with a hefty price tag - boasts everything from a 13-seat cinema to a helipad that doubles up as a golf driving range.

There is even the world's most expensive painting on board, an original by Leonardo da Vinci called Salvator Mundi - which is Latin for Saviour of the World

Bin Salman reportedly bought it for around £330million at Christie's in 2017, and it is thought to hang on one of the walls of his yacht.

The yacht, named Pegasus VIII, was seen moored in the bay near Pendennis Point, in the picturesque town of Falmouth back in April.

Bin Salman, often referred to as MBS, is about to become the owner of Newcastle United.

And Toon stars will certainly want a tour of the boat that has accommodation for up to 12 guests and has a crew of 26 people.

There is plenty to keep bin Salman's visitors entertained, as the yacht features a party deck complete with two bars, a dance floor, grand piano and barbecue - not to mention the 1,000 bottle tequila cellar.

The ship - which has a top cruising speed of 16 knots - also has its own gym and jacuzzi on the exterior deck, as well as a drydock which can be flooded to create a 12-metre swimming pool.

The sizeable ship was built by the Royal Denship, a Danish yacht construction company, and delivered in 2003, bought by Californian investor Ronald Tutor.

The yacht's exterior design and engineering are the work of Espen Oeino, the naval architect behind the looks of many world's biggest boats, while Francesco Zuretti put together the interior.

Tutor named it Pegasus V, having previously owned other yachts with the name Pegasus.

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In 2015, the businessman sold it on to the Saudi prince for £44million, who renamed the ship Pegasus VIII.

The 35-year-old, who serves as Saudi Arabia's deputy prime minister, sent the cruiser off to the Netherlands for an intensive refit, according to Super Yacht Fan.

It is powered by diesel-electric engines, and with a 435,700 litre fuel tanks, has a maximum range of 7,5000 nautical miles at 12 knots.

• Foreign royals

Photos: Inside Saudi Crown Prince’s USD 400 million superyacht; snowroom and more

The yacht's facilities include seven swimming pools, an underwater viewing room, health spa, saltwater pool, outdoor cinema and a nightclub over the combined 48,000 square feet..

Riyadh : The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, is known for his lavish spending and owning several luxurious properties around the world, including a serene superyacht worth dollars 400 million (Rs 32,74,61,20,000).

The Crown Prince bought the yacht from the previous owner, Russian businessman Yuri Shefler in 2015.

The 134-meter Serene yacht built by Italian shipyard Fincantieri, has many elements inside that make it the masterpiece it is.

The Serene #luxury mega yacht pic.twitter.com/iyUK2gyKBT — Earth 🌍 (@earthescope) March 22, 2015

It can accommodate up to 24 guests in 12 cabins with private decks, and 52 crew members, including the captain, in 30 cabins.

As per a report by luxury launches , the yacht’s facilities include seven swimming pools, an underwater viewing room, a health spa, a saltwater pool, outdoor cinema and a nightclub over the combined 48,000 square feet.

One such standout element is a snow room—cooled to 12 degrees Fahrenheit and featuring real snow falling from the ceiling.

A dedicated children’s playroom makes the ship a family-friendly cruise experience for guests. There is an indoor climbing wall, wet bar and jacuzzi on the top floor.

The yacht also has two helicopter pads. The yacht’s fun features include an on-board pizza oven and teppanyaki grill. Its interior is defined as modern and luxurious with attention to detail.

The yacht offers many social spaces for guests to use and a conference room where they can conduct business on board.

At a distance of 5000 nautical miles, the yacht has a maximum speed of 18 knots and a cruising speed of 14 knots.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, one of the most expensive works of art ever purchased for 450 million dollars (Rs 36,86,96,25,000) in 2017 (more than the yacht itself), is on display on the yacht.

Prior to the sale of the yacht to the Crown Prince, Serene was provided for charter to select guests. Among them is Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who reportedly rented Serene for 5 million dollars (Rs 40,97,49,500) a week during the summer of 2014.

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Inside Mohammed bin Salman’s amazing £44million superyacht with cinema room and £330m Leonardo da Vinci painting on wall

• Katie Davis
• Published : 7:10 ET, Oct 7 2021
• Updated : 6:10 ET, Jan 27 2024

SAUDI Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the proud owner of a £44million superyacht.

The impressive 78m vessel - which comes with a hefty price tag - boasts everything from a 13-seat cinema to a helipad that doubles up as a golf driving range.

There is even the world's most expensive painting on board, an original by Leonardo da Vinci called Salvator Mundi - which is Latin for Saviour of the World

Bin Salman reportedly bought it for around £330million at Christie's in 2017, and it is thought to hang on one of the walls of his yacht.

The yacht, named Pegasus VIII, was seen moored in the bay near Pendennis Point, in the picturesque town of Falmouth back in April.

Bin Salman, often referred to as MBS, is about to become the owner of Newcastle United.

And Toon stars will certainly want a tour of the boat that has accommodation for up to 12 guests and has a crew of 26 people.

There is plenty to keep bin Salman's visitors entertained, as the yacht features a party deck complete with two bars, a dance floor, grand piano and barbecue - not to mention the 1,000 bottle tequila cellar.

The ship - which has a top cruising speed of 16 knots - also has its own gym and jacuzzi on the exterior deck, as well as a drydock which can be flooded to create a 12-metre swimming pool.

The sizeable ship was built by the Royal Denship, a Danish yacht construction company, and delivered in 2003, bought by Californian investor Ronald Tutor.

The yacht's exterior design and engineering are the work of Espen Oeino, the naval architect behind the looks of many world's biggest boats, while Francesco Zuretti put together the interior.

Tutor named it Pegasus V, having previously owned other yachts with the name Pegasus.

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In 2015, the businessman sold it on to the Saudi prince for £44million, who renamed the ship Pegasus VIII.

The 35-year-old, who serves as Saudi Arabia's deputy prime minister, sent the cruiser off to the Netherlands for an intensive refit, according to Super Yacht Fan.

It is powered by diesel-electric engines, and with a 435,700 litre fuel tanks, has a maximum range of 7,5000 nautical miles at 12 knots.

• Foreign royals
• Mohammad Bin Salman
• Saudi Arabia

His vacation home is a $300 million French chateau, and his yacht has a $450 million Da Vinci painting – MBS, the 37-year-old Crown prince of Saudi Arabia leads a life so luxurious that no royalty or centibillionaire even comes close.

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Saudi prince MBS likely to use world's most expensive painting to 'attract people, just like Mona Lisa does'

Since it was sold, the painting has remained hidden from the public eye. But that may not be the case for long. Bernard Haykel, a close associate of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said MBS wants the painting as the anchor of a grand museum that is yet to be built in Riyadh read more

Salvator Mundi, which translates to “Saviour of the World”, is a painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. It was purchased at an auction for a staggering $450 million, making it the most expensive artwork ever sold.

Since it was sold, the painting has remained hidden from the public eye. But that may not be the case for long.

People may finally be able to see it in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh.

A hidden treasure

When Salvator Mundi went under the hammer at Christie’s in New York, the identity of the buyer remained anonymous, fuelling speculation and intrigue.

Then, N_ew York Times_ uncovered the truth: the buyer was a Saudi prince acting on behalf of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, who is known better by his initials, MBS.

After disappearing from public view, there was widespread speculation that the painting might be adorning the walls of MBS’s palatial homes or his luxurious yacht.

However, BBC cited Bernard Haykel, a close associate of the Crown Prince and a Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, as saying that Salvator Mundi currently resides in storage in Geneva.

Haykel revealed that MBS wants the painting as the anchor of a grand museum that is yet to be built in Riyadh.

“I want to build a very large museum in Riyadh,” Haykel recalls MBS as saying. “And I want an anchor object that will attract people, just like the Mona Lisa does.”

A portrait of power

The decision to buy Salvator Mundi can be seen as a bold assertion of MBS’s vision for Saudi Arabia.

The purchase occurred during a period when the Crown Prince was beginning to loosen the grip of religious conservatism in the kingdom. These early steps in his Vision 2030 plan included allowing women to drive and reopening cinemas, signalling a shift towards a more open society.

In this context, the acquisition of a Christian icon, particularly one by da Vinci, may show his willingness to break from tradition and position Saudi Arabia as a leader on the world stage.

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