I’m a Therapist to the Super-rich: They Are as Miserable as Succession Makes Out

THE GUARDIAN – OPINION: Many billionaires I work with have trust issues, lack a sense of purpose and struggle with shame, guilt and fear

Brian Cox as Logan Roy in Succession. Photograph: HBO/David M. Russell
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard the term “first world problems”, my bank account would look similar to those of my clients. I work as a psychotherapist and my specialism is ultra-high net worth individuals.

I got into working with billionaires by accident. I had one wealthy client, who passed my name around to their acquaintances. They are called the 1% for a reason: there are not that many of them and so the circle is tight.

Over the years, I have developed a great deal of empathy for those who have far too much. The television programme Succession, now in its third season, does such a good job of exploring the kinds of toxic excess my clients struggle with that when my wife is watching it I have to leave the room; it just feels like work.

What could possibly be challenging about being a billionaire, you might ask. Well, what would it be like if you couldn’t trust those close to you? Or if you looked at any new person in your life with deep suspicion? I hear this from my clients all the time: “What do they want from me?”; or “How are they going to manipulate me?”; or “They are probably only friends with me because of my money.” » | Clay Cockrell | Monday, November 22, 2021

Buckingham Palace Lists Catholics in Line of Succession

DAILY EXPRESS: BUCKINGHAM Palace has listed two Roman Catholics in the line of succession in apparent contravention of the law.

Lord Nicholas Windsor, the youngest son of the Duke and Duchess of Kent and a great grandson of George V, converted to Catholicism in 2001, his Croatian wife Paola is a Catholic, and their two sons Albert and Leopold were baptised as Catholics.

Under the terms of the 1701 Act of Settlement Catholics are banned from succession to the throne.

Yet Albert, 5, and Leopold, 3, are listed as 39th and 40th in line to the throne on the Royal Family’s official website. in the new line of succession following the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s son, Prince George.

Buckingham Palace, which spent two years insisting that the Duchess of Cambridge was not a princess before admitting that she was, has not commented on the decision to include the two young Catholics. » | Richard Palmer | Monday, August 12, 2013

Saudi Arabia Faces Succession Battle Amid Regional Turmoil
THE VANCOUVER SUN: As Libya collapses into anarchy and demands for political reform continue to flare across the Middle East, the pictures of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah returning home carried a message of foreboding.

The 86-year-old absolute monarch looked bemused and disconnected as he cut short a three-month absence for medical treatment in the United States and convalescence in Morocco to return to the Saudi capital Riyadh.

His concession to the clamour for reform in the countries encircling Saudi Arabia like Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain and Yemen was to announce an additional $35 billion for the country's already bloated patronage system, funded from its possession of 20 per cent of the world's oil reserves.

So far Saudi Arabia has not suffered the protests on the streets demanding an end to monarchic or presidential despotism that are washing over the Middle East and North Africa.

But Saudi Arabia, for many the spiritual hub of the Muslim world, is facing serious challenges to its regional authority at a time when it is in the midst of a succession struggle that threatens to distort its responses.

Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran has capitalized significantly on the uncertainty and chaos in the region.

Tehran, champion of the Shiite sect of Islam in its 1,400-year tussle with the Sunnis led by Saudi Arabia, has already benefited from the U.S. putting the Shiite majority in power in Iraq and destroying the Sunni Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

To that has been added Tehran's ever closer ties with Syria and its terrorist acolytes; Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

The new regime in Egypt is unlikely to be as opposed to Hamas as was deposed president Hosni Mubarak, and several of the Gulf States are leaning toward Tehran after seeing the uprising against their Sunni overlords by the Shiite majority in Bahrain.

In Saudi Arabia, about two million of the 26 million population are Shiites and they live primarily in the oil-producing east of the country. >>> Jonathan Manthorpe, Vancouver Sun | Thursday, February 24, 2011

Oil Could Hit $200 If the "House of Saud" Falls Next
Will the "House of Saud" be the next to fall in the Middle East? Oil hitting $200 is a possibility! Jonathan Manthorpe in conversation with Fazil Mihlar

Saudi Royal Succession: Professor Detained Over Article
BBC: A Saudi law professor who wrote about a possible power struggle over the royal succession is being held without charge, a human rights group says.

Mohammad al-Abdulkareem, 40, was detained at his home in Riyadh on Sunday by four men who had no court warrant, the group said.

Mr Abdulkareem's article appeared shortly after King Abdullah, 86, went to America for surgery on his spine.

The royal succession is a highly sensitive subject in Saudi Arabia.

There has been no official confirmation of the arrest by the Saudi authorities. >>> Sebastian Usher. BBC News, London | Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Keys to the Kingdom: Inside Saudi Arabia's Royal Family
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: The crown prince is seriously ill, and Saudi Arabia's normally secretive royal family is openly clashing over who will take the throne, reports Hugh Miles

Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who was Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington for 22 years, is at the centre of speculation over the royal succession. He has not been seen in public for weeks. Photo courtesy of The Independent on Sunday
A dispute over Saudi Arabia's royal succession burst into the open yesterday, revealing a power struggle in which one of the most senior princes in the oil-rich kingdom is reported to have disappeared. The prospect of instability in a country that is not only the world's largest oil exporter but also a key Western ally at the heart of the Middle East will cause serious concern in Washington, London and beyond.

Rumours are rife over the position of Prince Bandar bin Sultan, 60, son of the heir to the Saudi throne, who has not been seen in public for weeks. Prince Bandar is better known abroad than almost any other member of the Saudi royal family, not only for his extravagant lifestyle, but because of his daring foreign policy initiatives during 22 years as the Saudi ambassador in Washington, where he played an important role after 9/11 and during two Gulf wars. His absence from public life comes at a sensitive time in Saudi Arabia: his father, Crown Prince Sultan, is gravely ill with cancer, throwing the succession to King Abdullah into question.

One theory in political circles in Riyadh is that Prince Bandar was seeking to oust King Abdullah before Prince Sultan dies, thus placing his father on the throne. Other rumours claim that Prince Bandar is ill, or that he angered King Abdullah by dabbling in Syrian politics without authorisation. The Saudi embassy in London could not be contacted for comment last week, but this weekend political tensions in the kingdom came dramatically to the surface.

On Friday night King Abdullah unexpectedly announced the appointment of one of his half-brothers, Prince Nayef, the 76-year-old interior minister, to the post of second deputy prime minister, which had been left vacant. This was immediately taken as an indication that he would become crown prince when Prince Sultan dies or becomes king. But yesterday Prince Talal, another senior figure, publicly demanded that the king confirm that the appointment did not mean Prince Nayef would automatically become the next crown prince. Such public disagreement among senior Saudi royals is highly unusual. Another indication of friction among the many descendants of the founder of Saudi Arabia, … >>> Hugh Miles | Sunday, March 29, 2009

The Succession of the Saudi King
Photo courtesy of the BBC
BBC: Saudi Arabia's king has issued a decree detailing the implementation of a succession law announced a year ago.

The decree outlines the workings of a committee to choose future Saudi kings and the crown princes.

It stipulates committee members must be male heirs of the kingdom's founder, Abdul Aziz bin Saud.

Correspondents say the measures are designed to smooth the transition of power and prevent leadership disputes which have erupted in the past.

Under the new regulations, the so-called Allegiance Commission is to meet immediately after the death of a monarch to name the crown prince as king. Saudi king details succession law (more)

Mark Alexander