Faisal bin Musaid Al Saud (, ''Fayṣal bin Musāʿid ʾĀl Suʿūd''; 4 April 194418 June 1975) was the assassin and nephew of King

Faisal of Saudi Arabia Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (; Najdi Arabic pronunciation: ; 14 April 1906 – 25 March 1975) was King of Saudi Arabia from 2 November 1964 until #Assassination and aftermath, his assassination in 1975. Before his ascension, he served as Cr ...

and a grandson of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

's founder

King Abdulaziz Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud (; 15 January 1875Ibn Saud's birth year has been a source of debate. It is generally accepted as 1876, although a few sources give it as 1880. According to British author Robert Lacey's book ''The Kingdom'', ...

Early life

Faisal bin Musa'id was born in 1944. His father was Prince Musa'id bin Abdulaziz, son of the founder of Saudi Arabia and half-brother to all the six

Saudi king The king of Saudi Arabia, officially the king of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (; ''Malik al-Mamlakat al-ʿArabiyat as-Suʿūdiyya''), is head of state and of the Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who holds absolute monarchy, absolute powe ...

s, including King Faisal, who have succeeded the founder. Faisal bin Musa'id's mother was Watfa, a daughter of Muhammad bin Talāl, the 12th and last Rashidi emir. Musa'id and Watfa were divorced when Faisal was still young. Therefore, he and his siblings were much closer to their maternal Rashidi relatives than to their paternal

Al Saud The House of Saud ( ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is composed of the descendants of Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the Emirate of Diriyah, known as the First Saudi State, (1727–1818), and his brothers, though the ruling fac ...

relatives. In 1965, Faisal's older brother Khaled was shot and killed by a Saudi police officer while he led an assault on a new television station in

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

that had been recently founded by King Faisal. Some people opposed the establishment of a national television service, as they considered it immoral to produce images of humans. While that is the official version, the details of his death are disputed and some reports allege that he actually died resisting arrest outside his own home. Regardless, no investigation over his death was ever initiated. Faisal had two other full siblings, Prince Bandar and Princess Al Jawhara. Saudi businessman Abdul Rahman bin Musa'id Al Saud is his half-brother.

Education

Faisal arrived in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1966 and attended

San Francisco State College San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is part of the Califor ...

for two semesters studying English. Allis Bens, director of the American Language Institute at San Francisco State, said, "He was friendly and polite and very well brought up, it seemed to me." While Faisal was at San Francisco State, his brother Khaled was killed. After leaving San Francisco State College, Faisal went to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

and then to the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University o ...

. He was described by his peers as " quiet, likable, notably unstudious young man". University of Colorado Professor Edward Rozek, who had taught him in three comparative government courses, described him as "academically a D and a C student". In 1969, while in Boulder, he was arrested for conspiring to sell

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD (from German ; often referred to as acid or lucy), is a semisynthetic, hallucinogenic compound derived from ergot, known for its powerful psychological effects and serotonergic activity. I ...

. He pleaded guilty and was placed on probation for one year. In May 1970, the district attorney dropped the charges. In 1971, he received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Colorado and then returned to the San Francisco Bay area. At the University of California, Berkeley, he enrolled in graduate courses in political science, but did not receive a master's degree.

After the United States

After leaving the United States, he went to

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

. For unknown reasons, he also went to

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. When he came back to Saudi Arabia, Saudi authorities seized his passport because of his troubles abroad. He began teaching at Riyadh University and kept in touch with his girlfriend, Christine Surma, who was 26 at the time of the assassination.Saudi Prince Beheaded
''The News and The Courier'', 19 June 1975.

Assassination and trial

Royal Palace shooting

On 25 March 1975, Prince Faisal went to the Royal Palace in

, where King Faisal was holding a meeting, known as a

majlis (, pl. ') is an Arabic term meaning 'sitting room', used to describe various types of special gatherings among common interest groups of administrative, social or religious nature in countries with linguistic or cultural connections to the Mus ...

. He joined a

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

i delegation and lined up to meet the king. The king recognized his nephew and bent his head forward, so that the younger Faisal could kiss the king's head in a sign of respect. The prince took out a revolver from his robe and shot the King twice in the head. His third shot missed and he threw the gun away. King Faisal fell to the floor. Bodyguards with swords and submachine guns arrested the prince. The king was rushed to a hospital but doctors were unable to save him. Saudi television crews captured the entire assassination on camera.

Imprisonment and execution

Initial reports described Faisal bin Musaid as "mentally deranged". He was moved to a Riyadh prison. However, he was later deemed sane to be tried. A

sharia Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...

court found Faisal guilty of the king's murder on 18 June, and his public execution occurred hours later. Cars with loudspeakers drove around Riyadh publicly announcing the verdict and his imminent execution, and crowds gathered in the square. Faisal was led by a soldier to the execution point and was reported to have walked unsteadily. Wearing white robes and blindfolded, Faisal was beheaded with a single sweep of a gold-handled sword.

Motives

Aside from the death of his brother, his other possible motivations remain unknown, but other motives have been proposed. Saudi officials began to state that the prince's actions were deliberate and planned. Rumours suggested that the prince had told his mother about his assassination plans, who in turn told King Faisal who responded that "if it is

Allah Allah ( ; , ) is an Arabic term for God, specifically the God in Abrahamic religions, God of Abraham. Outside of the Middle East, it is principally associated with God in Islam, Islam (in which it is also considered the proper name), althoug ...

's will, then it would happen". Arab media implied that the prince had been an agent of the U.S.

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

and Israel's

Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...

. Following such claims, a theory started in Iranian media mentioned that he might have been manipulated by his Western girlfriend (Christine Surma) who, it was alleged, might have been

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and secretly an asset for the Israeli intelligence services. The rumor was briefly taken seriously by Saudi Arabian officials who informally contacted Surma to question her regarding the assassination, at which point she revealed she was not Jewish and was as puzzled as everyone else regarding the actions of Faisal. Beirut newspapers offered three different explanations for the attack. ''

An-Nahar ''An-Nahar'' () is a leading Arabic-language daily newspaper published in Lebanon. In the 1980s, ''An-Nahar'' was described by ''The'' ''New York Times'' and ''Time Magazine'' as the newspaper of record for the entire Arab world. History and p ...

'' reported that the attack may have been possible vengeance for the dethroning of

King Saud Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (; 15 January 1902 – 23 February 1969) was King of Saudi Arabia from 9 November 1953 until his abdication on 2 November 1964. During his reign, he served as Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 1953 to 1954 a ...

, because Faisal was scheduled to marry Saud's daughter, Princess Sita, in the same week. ''An-Nahar'' also reported that King Faisal had ignored his repeated complaints that his $3,500 monthly allowance ($16,700/month in 2020 dollars, $200,500/year) was insufficient and this may have prompted the assassination. ''Al Bayrak'' reported that according to reliable Saudi sources, King Faisal prohibited him from leaving the country because of his excessive consumption of alcohol and other drugs and the attack may have been a retaliation against the travel ban.