| Saad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud | |
| Office: | Governor of Asir Province |
| Term Start: | 1941 |
| Term End: | 1960 |
| Father: | King Abdulaziz |
| Mother: | Jawhara bint Saad bin Abdul Muhsin Al Sudairi |
| Birth Place: | Riyadh, Emirate of Nejd and Hasa |
| Death Place: | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
Saad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (Arabic: سعد بن عبد العزيز آل سعود; 1915 23 July 1993) was a former governor of 'Asir and a member of House of Saud. He was also a former chairman of royal family council of Al Saud. The Council was created to look after the members of the Saudi royal family and was not related to any political issues.
Prince Saad was born in Qasr Al Hukm, Riyadh,[1] in 1915 as the seventh son of King Abdulaziz.[2] However, there is another report, citing his birth year as 1920.[3] His mother was Jawhara bint Saad Al Sudairi.[4] She was widow of Saad bin Abdul Rahman, full brother of King Abdulaziz.[5] Prince Saad had two full brothers Prince Abdul Muhsin and Prince Musa'id.[3] [4] Al Bandari bint Abdulaziz was his full sister.[6]
Jawhara bint Saad was the sister of Haya bint Saad who was another spouse of King Abdulaziz and the mother of Prince Badr, Prince Abdul Majid and Prince Abdul Illah.[4]
Prince Sa'ad participated for the first time in the war at the Battle of Sabilla against Ikhwan that occurred in 1929, and was wounded severely and shot twice on his knee during the battle. The injury forced his uncle Prince Muhammed bin Abdul Rahman, who was in the battle as well to carry him outside where he transferred to Taif and stayed one month for treatment. After Sa'ad was fully treated, His father Abdulaziz sent him again to Prince Mohammed to train more on wars until 1931 when his father decided to appoint him as deputy commander of the battle of Jizan, which ended in victory and unification of the Kingdom in 1932.
After the Battle of Jizan and the unification of the Kingdom, he was appointed by his father the governor of the province of Khamis Mushait, and was at the time at the age of eighteen. In 1935, Sa'ad worked to protect Khamis Mushayt from attacks of Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen, where at the time Saudi–Yemeni War is held. Sa'ad Sent 400 men to the south-west of Khamis Mushayt, and because of the ongoing attacks by Yemeni, King Abdul Aziz supplied more arms and ammunition, and when Yemeni realized that aid to Khamis Mushayt battle turned into a big loss they decided to surrender.
In 1941, Prince Saad was appointed governor of the Asir. The province under Sa'ad made integrated urban renaissance, where wells were drilled and excavated, building markets and trading. The region has also seen at the end of his reign the construction of many dams to preserve the water of rains. As a ruler of Asir, Saad developed the air defense with the help of the Defence Minister Prince Mansour bin Abdulaziz, who sent civilian and military aircraft in the 1940s and 1950s. He remained in this position until 1960 when he was appointed a deputy interior minister for security affairs. His term lasted until 1987.
Prince Saad was not given any other significant political position due to his weak and negligible character like his half-brother Prince Bandar.[2] However, Prince Saad remained head of the royal family council until his death in 1993.[7]
As a son of King Abdulaziz, Prince Saad was a potential successor to the Saudi Arabian throne. However, he and his half-brother Nasser were sidelined in favour of their younger half-brother Fahd, who was appointed crown prince in 1975.[8] Both Prince Saad and Prince Nasser were regarded as weak contenders due to being less experienced in government affairs than Prince Fahd.[8]
Prince Saad married many times, and some of his wives are as follows:
In May 1992 Prince Saad and his wife, Princess Noura, caused a controversy when their employee accused them of abusing in their residence in Houston, Texas.[10]
His son, Mohammed bin Saad, is a former advisor of Prince Nayef and deputy governor of Riyadh Province.[11] His other son, Abdulaziz, is former deputy governor of the Hail Region.[12] He was named the governor of the Hail Region in 2017 replacing Saud bin Abdul Muhsin Al Saud in the post.[13]
Daughter of Prince Saad, Princess Al Jawhara, is married to Prince Sultan bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Kabeer.
Prince Saad died in Jeddah on 23 July 1993.[8] [14] He was buried in Al Oud cemetery in Riyadh.