Guardians of the Theocracy

The land of progress – Saudi Arabia – has reached an acme of equality today. The Saudi regime is allowing women to travel without male guardians. The royal family has decided women over the age of 21 should be allowed to get passports without their husbands or fathers needing to sign off on it, despite resisting such silly Western ideas for years.

It obviously seems more of a reluctant calculation than any sort of genuine progress, but even so it's undeniable the country is going through some changes.

Here's what Mark wrote just over two years ago, upon the passing of Prince Abdul-Rahman bin Abdulaziz al Saud.

I see that Prince Abdul-Rahman bin Abdulaziz al Saud died the other day. If you're having trouble keeping track of your Saudi princes, well, I don't blame you. Unlike the closely held princely titles of the House of Windsor, the House of Saud is somewhat promiscuous with the designation: there are (at the time of writing) over 10,000 Saudi "princes" running around the country - and, in fact, at this time of year, more likely running around Mayfair and the French Riviera, exhausting the poor old blondes from the escort agencies. I believe that's Abdul-Rahman at right, although to be honest all Saudi princes look alike to me, except that some wear white and others look very fetching in gingham. As I once remarked to Sheikh Ghazi al-Ghosaibi, the late cabinet minister, he was the only Saudi I knew who wasn't a prince.

Ah, progress. BBC used this photo in its story about the newfound travel rights Saudi women have gained. Here was BBC's caption: "The move now puts women on an equal footing to men with regard to travel rights." Looks very equal, doesn't it?

Abdul-Rahman's mother was said to be Ibn Saud's favorite among his 22 wives - or, at any rate, one of the favorites. Top Five certainly. She also had the highest status, because she bore him more boys - seven - than any other other missus. They're known as the Sudairi Seven or, alternatively, the Magnificent Seven. She also gave him seven daughters. They're known as the seven blackout curtains standing over in the corner. This splendidly fertile lady's name was Hussa bint Ahmed, and she was Ibn Saud's cousin once removed and then, if I'm counting correctly, his eighth wife. But she's a bit like the Grover Cleveland of the House of Saud - in that he's counted as the 22nd and 24th President of the United States, and she's the eighth wife and also either the tenth or eleventh. He first married her when he was 38 and she was 13. But he divorced her and then remarried her. In between their marriages she was married to his brother, but Ibn Saud was a sentimental lad and never got over his child-bride-turned-sister-in-law, so he ordered his brother to divorce her.

I've always thought they were in-bred but this is a case of reality being stranger than fiction.

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