Saudi King to US for Tests

Saudi King ‘Abdullah will undergo tests in the United States after hospitalization for back pain and a blood clot. This followed his delegating supervisory duties for the Hajj due to a slipped disc.

Though ‘Abdullah's health has not been as precarious as his Crown Prince/brother Prince Sultan's, he is 86 years old. Sultan, who will run the Kingdom in his absence, was himself absent for most of last year, undergoing surgery in the US and a long recovery period at his palace in Agadir, Morocco.

The Hajj supervision was delegated to Prince Nayef, considered unofficially next in line after Sultan. The advancing age of the senior generation is likely to provoke new speculation about when and how the succession will pass to the next generation, the grandsons of the founder.