Mohammed bin Salman

Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, commonly known as MBS (born 31 August 1985), is the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, formally serving as Crown Prince since 21 June 2017 and Prime Minister since 27 September 2022. The seventh son of King Salman and heir apparent to the Saudi throne, he obtained a law degree from King Saud University, became an advisor to his father in 2009, and was appointed deputy crown prince and defense minister after his father became king in 2015. Since his appointment as crown prince he has introduced liberal social and economic reforms, including curtailing the influence of the Wahhabi religious establishment, improving women's rights and lifting the ban on female drivers in 2018, and has pursued his Saudi Vision 2030 programme to reduce the economy's reliance on oil. He leads an authoritarian government in which political dissidents face systematic repression, and a 2021 United States intelligence report found that he had ordered the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.