Prince Fahd was born in Riyadh in 1923, at a propitious time when his father, Abdul Aziz (Ibn Saud), was completing his unification of the land that was to be the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the land which sixty years later would be ruled by King Fahd.

By all accounts, the relationship between Prince Fahd and his father was a close one. Clearly, as Prince Fahd observed in his father the qualities that had enabled him to unite the fractious tribes of the Arabian Peninsula into a united country (the Kingdom was formally founded in 1932 when Prince Fahd was 9 years old), so King Abdul Aziz evidently discerned in his son the potential for leadership. The young Prince Fahd must therefore be given the best education the new Kingdom could at that time offer. King Abdul Aziz was determined to ensure that Prince Fahd should be fully versed in the Holy Scriptures of Islam, and in Arab history and culture.

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