Saud of Saudi Arabia

Saud bin Abdulaziz was the second son of King Abdulaziz, founder of Saudi Arabia, and became crown prince in 1933 after his older brother Turki died in 1919. He commanded forces in his father's territorial campaigns, served as viceroy of Nejd from 1926 to 1932, and helped modernize the kingdom's finances, preparing its first state budget in 1948 and establishing the Saudi Central Bank in 1952. When Abdulaziz died in 1953, Saud took the throne and reorganized the government, setting the precedent that the king chairs the Council of Ministers. He tried to balance warm ties with the United States and support for Arab struggles against Israel, bringing Saudi Arabia into the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961. But spiraling national debt dragged him into a power struggle with his half-brother and crown prince, Faisal, and on 2 November 1964 Saud was forced to abdicate. He went into exile, backed by some of his sons in a failed bid to reclaim the throne, and died in Athens in 1969.