The move follows the announcement yesterday of the death of 87-year-old King Abdullah's half-brother, 80-year-old Crown Prince Sultan, who was until now his nominated successor.
The man now expected to become heir to the throne is Prince Nayef, 78, another half-brother of King Abdullah who currently serves as interior minister in the oil-rich nation.
While the prospect of one ageing Arab prince taking over from another may scarcely rank alongside the upheavals elsewhere in the Middle East this year, one aspect of the reshuffle will show that even Saudi Arabia – the most conservative of all Arab nations - is cautiously embracing change.
For the first time, King Abdullah is expected to seek approval for his choice of heir from the Allegiance Council, a body he set up himself to make the royal family's complex and opaque succession procedure more transparent.
Composed of the 34 branches of the ruling family, the council's members can either vote to confirm the king's choice or nominate their own candidate.
In practice, the council, which is expected to meet in coming days, is unlikely to dissent from the king's choice of Prince Nayef, a man not previously noted as an enthusiastic reformer. A close ally of the country's hard-line clergy, he is on the record as opposing women being granted the right to vote or drive, and his accession to the throne will be unwelcome to those seeking to put the country on a more liberal path.
However, with King Abdullah himself now in poor health - he was in hospital himself in Riyadh yesterday, a week after having surgery for recurring back problems - Prince Nayef's time as ruler may well be imminent. » | Colin Freeman, Chief Foreign Correspondent | Saturday, October 22, 2011
