A Saudi princess emerges

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إِنَّا ِلِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ
“We belong to God and to Him we shall return.” -Quran 2:156

Lolwah bint Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud or Lulwa bint Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (ar:لولوة بنت فهد بن عبد العزيز آل سعود) (1952 – April 18, 2022; 17/9/1443 AH) was a Saudi princess, the daughter of King Fahd (Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud).  She was married to her first cousin, Khalid bin Sultan (September 24, 1949 – ), who served as Deputy Minister of Defense until 2013. They had three children, Reema, (before 1973) died four months old,  Faisal (born 1973), and Sara (born 1976). They divorced in 1978.

Her son, Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Sultan, is governor of the Northern Borders Region.  He was appointed as an advisor to the Crown Prince’s Court in 2006 and as Emir of the Northern Borders region with the rank of minister in 2017.  His wives were Princess Madawi bint Khalid bin Abdullah bin Muhammad Al Saud (مضاوي بنت خالد بن عبدالله بن محمد آل سعود) and Princess Sarah bint Khalid bin Musaed Al Saud (b. Dec. 14, 1976). His children are Diem, Lulwa, Khaled, Lynn, Nouf, and Sultan. Princess Madawi is the sister of Fahd bin Khalid bin Abdullah bin Muhammad Al Saud (فهد بن خالد بن عبد الله بن محمد آل سعود). She had a daughter, Princess Dim (ديم).

According to social media, Princess Lolwah was born in 1952 in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She was the second daughter of King Fahd, out of nine children. She grew up in her father’s palace in Taif, and was educated abroad. She went to secondary school in Lausanne, Switzerland. She received a bachelor’s degree from the College of History at King Saud University. She died in a hospital as a result of illness.

Princess Lolwah’s parents were Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (1921 or 1923 – 2005) and Princess Tarfa bint Abdulaziz bin Fahd Muammar (d. 2014). Princess Tarfa’s father was Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd bin Muammar (عبد العزيز بن فهد بن معمر) (1906 – 1988). The mother of Princess Lolwah died in 2014, it was announced by the royal court AlHijjah 18, 1435, Oct 12, 2014. The statement was published by the Saudi Press Agency. 

The funeral prayer for Princess Lolwa bint Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was Tuesday April 19, 2022 at Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh. The funeral prayer was performed by Prince Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Abdulaziz, the Deputy Governor of Riyadh Region. Also attending the prayer were Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh,  the UAE ambassador to Saudi Arabia Sheikh Nahyan bin Seif Al Nahyan, and a number of princes and citizens.

Burial was in al-Oud cemetery (مقبرة العود) about a mile south and east of Masmak castle.

 
Video of the burial, men only, the women will probably go the day after, but it is also possible they have video conferencing set up and the women are gathered together somewhere in a different building where they can watch without being seen.

Here’s another video, they have red oriental carpets and gilded chairs outside in the cemetery.

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The family details of Saudi royals are notoriously opaque, especially when it comes to the women, but with a little poking around, perhaps we can find out more, and start to fill in the information in the lede above.

Note: information has stopped coming in, so the above paragraphs are now pretty much complete, except for maybe some re-shuffling of paragraphs and the addition of some names of those who attended the prayer service. For the purposes of Wikipedia, the critical question is whether she is “notable” enough by Wikipedia standards to have a standalone article, and sadly, she is not, at least not yet.  The Arabic Wikipedia article has solved this by adding her to the article about her family.  If there was something published about her charities, what she endowed, or what work she did, this might help. But information about women is rarely available in The Magical Kingdom, especially royals, because they are afraid of the men.  And rightly so.  Why do you think the Saudi women cover themselves in black polyester from head to toe, in a place where temperatures routinely rise above 115°F . It’s not for the climate.

Quite a bit of the information here is from social media and not official sources, but I have included it anyhow.  Most of it is probably accurate. A lot of this information will be common knowledge inside of Saudi, the royal family is absolutely huge, there are probably 30,000 princesses in Riyadh alone. Her date of birth, where she grew up, where she was educated, all from informal sources. There are some obvious errors, for example the photo of the princess with the same name, but the daughter of a different king, who is probably her aunt, is being passed around as her. This same aunt grew up in a palace in Taif, was educated in Switzerland, so is this other information also conflated?  But the king does have a palace in Taif, in the cool hills above Mecca, and just outside the religious zone, so it is reasonable that she might have grown up there. Also reasonable to think she was educated abroad, like other children of the king in the past. The year of birth and university degree are unique bits of information, and more likely to be true. Arabs did not keep track of birthdays, that is a western thing, so it is unlikely her exact day of birth is known.

The Saudi Royal Court announced her death on Monday, April 18. Leaders of neighboring Gulf Arab countries paid their respects on Monday evening and Tuesday morning.  The funeral was scheduled for Tuesday following the afternoon prayers at Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh.

This means she must have passed after sundown, or they would have had to have the burial the same day. Additional national leaders sent their condolences to King Salman on Wednesday.  King Salman and her father King Fahd were brothers, both sons of King Abdulaziz and Hassa bint Ahmed Al Sudairi, so they would both have been members of the tightknit Sudairi Seven.

Time out for a couple of Saudi icons.  Left is the mosque, I believe that’s chop-chop square in the foreground. Five minutes away is the Masmak fort and museum, (center) first home of the Saudi royal family. The old 100-riyal bank note is King Fahd.

 

She was daughter of King Fahd (1921-2005).  His Wikipedia article mentions four daughters, only two are listed, she is not one of them.

She was mother of Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Sultan (Faisal bin Khalid bin Sultan Al Saud), born July 10, 1973 in Taif, who was appointed governor of the Northern Borders region by King Salman in 2017.  Faisal’s father, and therefore (Lolwah’s husband) was Khalid bin Sultan (born 24 September 1949), former deputy minister of defense, his grandfather was Crown Prince Sultan.  According to Khalid bin Sultan’s Wikipedia article, “Khalid’s first marriage was to his first cousin, Lulua, King Fahd’s daughter. They divorced in 1978.[2] They have three children. Their first child, Reema, died four months old. His other children from his first marriage are Faisal (born 1973) and Sara (born 1976).[2]  His mother was Munira bint Abdulaziz bin Musaed bin Jiluwi (d Paris 2011), sister of Alanoud, (Al Anood bint Abdulaziz bin Mousad Al Saud or Al Anood bint Abdulaziz bin Musaid Al Saud, surprisingly a red link there is a complete bio here, including her endowments), spouse of King Fahd  and mother of his five oldest sons. So now we have the names of her children, and that she married her first cousin, as is common in that region.

But who was her mother?  King Fahd had a number of wives. His Wikipedia article lists at least thirteen.

According to a royal court statement, the funeral prayer for the mother of Princess Lulwa bint Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was to be Oct 12, 2014, after Maghreb prayer at Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh.

Arabic Wikipedia lists some more family members:  (https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/أسرة_فهد_بن_عبد_العزيز_آل_سعود)

“Prince Faisal (he was married to Princess Madawi bint Khalid bin Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud and has Princess Diem, and is married to the daughter of Prince Khalid bin Musaed bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud and has children Princess Lulwa, Prince Khaled, Princess Lynn, Princess Nouf, and Prince Sultan), and Princess Sarah (married to Prince Abdulaziz bin Fahd bin Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud , and she has two children: Prince Fahd, Princess Haifa, Princess Lulwa, Princess Lana, Princess Hala, and Prince Muhammad). [diff, Arabic]

Now here’s something interesting, (translated) “On Monday evening, April 18, 17 Ramadan 1443, the Saudi Royal Court announced the death of Princess Lulwa bint Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud…In the same context, King Fahd bin Abdulaziz’s account on the social networking site, “Twitter”, published a picture of the late Princess Lulwa at a young age standing next to her late father, King Fahd, may God have mercy on him.” I love how they can go on forever with the resounding phrases, which however I will skip over here…”Her Royal Highness Princess Lulwa bint Fahd bin Abdulaziz, mother of Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Sultan Emir of the northern border region…The deceased princess was married to Prince Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who served as Deputy Minister of Defense until 2013.”  I feel we must have this photo, and this official twitter of the late King Fahd.

And here we have them.

There is another photo floating around, but it is fake, not Princess Lolwah bint Fahd, but a different Princess Lolwah bint Faisal al Saud (1948 – ), who is active in international issues.

And now we have the name of her mother, Princess Tarfa bint Abdulaziz bin Fahd Muammar (ar: الأميرة طرفة بنت عبدالعزيز بن فهد معمر). Also, “Princess Lulwa was distinguished by charitable works and the establishment of supporting institutions”, okay, but maybe “citation needed?” Also “Princess Tarfa bint Abdul Aziz bin Fahd bin Muammar, had one daughter, divorced Princess Lulwa bint Fahd bin Abdulaziz al Saud.

The father of Princess Tarfa bint Abdulaziz bin Fahd bin Muammar was Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd bin Muammar (عبد العزيز بن فهد بن معمر) (1906 – 1988) . There was a brother Fahd bin Abdulaziz bin Muammar, grew up in Taif, educated in California graduated 1968 (1388 AH), returned to Saudi in 1395 AH when his father was ill, appointed Emir of Taif on the eighteenth of Jumada Al-Ula in 1406 AH. He retired in 2016 AD. There are two more brothers of Fahd and presumably Tarfa: half-brothers of Tarfa… Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Muammar, the former Saudi Minister of Agriculture and Water, and Dr. Muhammad bin Abdulaziz bin Muammar, a member of the Shura Council and former Undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport.

nope, there was a second marriage for Abdul Aziz bin Fahd bin Muammar ..and a sister…and yet another unnamed mother…

Tarfa bint Abdulaziz bin Fahd bin Muammar: King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud married her, and she gave birth to Princess Lulwa (mother of Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz )

Noura bint Abdulaziz bin Fahd bin Muammar: Prince Nasser bin Abdulaziz Al Saud married her , and she gave birth to Prince Thamer and Princess Haifa

He also married for the second time and had (from Arabic Wikipedia):

And the year of the child that died in infancy. “Reena bint Khalid Al Saud, born 1973 (bef.), died 1973 (bef.), age under a year old (bef.) with Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al Saud”  https://www.famechain.com/family-tree/47403/princess-lulua-bint-fahd-al-saud

Well, that’s not too bad for a first draft, although I kinda wish some of her good works had turned up. All the royals did some kind of religious or charity work, so it would be surprising if she had not, but probably not all that surprising if it was not mentioned publicly.

Here is the hashtag for Princess LOLwah, https://twitter.com/search?q=Princess%20Lolwah%20bint%20Fahd&src=typed_query Condolences are being left at  https://twitter.com/Fahd1341  The brother seems to be Prince Abdulaziz bin Fahd Al Saud. This seems to be the deputy emir of Riyadh, who did the funeral prayer, comforting the brother:

Sources

Published by genderdesk

Tracking Wikipedia … so the barbarians don't win.

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