Saudi Arabia's ruling royal family lifestyle

    

Saudi Arabia's ruling royal family lifestyle

Saudi Arabia's ruling royal family has a net worth of about $1.4 trillion, which is 16 times more than that of the British royal family.

The ruling monarchy draws most of its income from vast oil reserves that were founded 75 years ago, changing the country's fortune and making the House of Saud the richest family on earth.

According to the House of Saud, the wealth of $1.4 trillion belongs to nearly 15,000 royal family members who live in lavish palaces. State-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco, which is among the world’s most valuable and profitable companies, constitutes the backbone of the sprawling royal family's fortune

The family is renowned for maintaining an enviable lifestyle, which has come under severe criticism on several occasions for being wastefully extravagant and full of pomposity. With the controversial elevation of Muhammad bin Salman (MBS) to the position of crown prince, the past few years have been rocky for the family. MBS arrested several of his family members, including his first cousins, in what appears to be a power struggle playing out along the margins of cruelty and cajolery mirroring the fictional book and TV series Game of Thrones. 

But the culture of extravagant and reckless spending thrives amidst the politics of ambition and vengeance. From spending hundreds of millions on lavish luxuries such as superyachts and private jets to fuelling wars in the Middle East, here's a glimpse of the ruling family’s life.

Unbridled luxury 

From gold-studded super yachts and private jets and palaces to furniture made of gold, the royal family even uses tissue paper plucked from gold-plated tissue dispensers.

In 2017, the 34-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, spent $450.3 million for Leonardo da Vinci’s 500-year-old painting ‘Salvator Mundi’ purchasing it through a proxy.

The painting "Salvator Mundi" by School of Leonardo da Vinci is pictured during a press visit of the "Leonardo da Vinci" exhibition to commemorate the 500-year anniversary of his death, at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, October 20, 2019. (Reuters)

The sale of the painting, which is also known as ‘Jesus Christ’ was a record for an art auction.

The Prince has paid over $300 million for the Chateau Louis XIV, located in France, called “the world’s most expensive home” by Fortune magazine.

The chateau has 10 bedrooms, indoor and outdoor pools together with a cinema, a wine cellar and a moat with transparent underwater chamber.

An aerial view of a luxurious private house in Louveciennes, near Paris July 14, 2011. (Reuters)

“I'm a rich person and not a poor person. I'm not Gandhi or Mandela. I'm a member of the ruling family that existed for hundreds of years before the founding of Saudi Arabia,” MBS told CBS over his spending and personal life.

The crown prince is reportedly trying to buy a football club, which is believed to be Newcastle United, in the Premier League after failing to acquire Manchester United. Many human rights organisations have reached out to the Premier League, insisting it to block the sale of any English club to the crown prince, citing his poor human rights record, including the killing of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi.

Yaman history background