MBS Born: Saudi Crown Prince Who Remade the Kingdom

Mohammed bin Salman ascended to Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and launched Vision 2030, an ambitious plan to diversify the kingdom's oil-dependent economy through tourism, entertainment, and technology investments. His consolidation of power reshaped Saudi domestic and foreign policy, though international criticism over human rights and the Khashoggi assassination complicated his reformist image. Born on August 31, 1985, MBS, as he is widely known, was the son of King Salman and rose rapidly through the Saudi hierarchy after his father took the throne in 2015. He was appointed defense minister at 29 and deputy crown prince in 2015, then elevated to crown prince in 2017 after King Salman removed the previous heir, Mohammed bin Nayef, in a palace maneuver. His consolidation of power was swift and unprecedented in Saudi royal politics: in November 2017, he detained over 200 Saudi princes, businessmen, and officials at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh in an anti-corruption campaign that critics characterized as a political purge. Vision 2030, announced in 2016, aims to reduce Saudi Arabia's dependence on oil revenues by developing tourism, entertainment, and technology sectors. Signature projects include NEOM, a $500 billion futuristic city on the Red Sea coast, and the opening of Saudi Arabia to international tourism and entertainment events including concerts, cinemas, and sporting events that had been prohibited under the kingdom's previous ultraconservative social policies. The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, which Western intelligence agencies attributed to operatives acting under MBS's authority, severely damaged his international standing. He denied ordering the killing but acknowledged that it happened "under my watch."