Nawwaf bin Abdulaziz, born on August 16, 1932 and died September 29, 2015.
Prince Nawwaf was a senior member of the House of Saud and was a close ally of the deceased King Abdullah.
He was born on 16 August 1932. He is the twenty-second son of King Abdulaziz.
Prince Nawwaf is the full brother of Prince Talal. Their mother was an Armenian, Munaiyir whose family escaped from the Armenian Genocide experienced under the reign of the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923.
Munaiyir was presented to Abdulaziz when she was 12 years old in the place of emir of Unayzah in 1921.
Their first child, Talal, was born in 1924. Following the tradition, Munaiyir became to be known as Umm Talal, “mother of Talal”.
However, in 1927, the three-year-old Talal died. Later, she gave four children to King Abdulaziz, one them is Prince Nawwaf.
It is not exactly known when Abdulaziz divorced his fourth wife and formally wed Munaiyir.
It is reported by her family that she remained illiterate all her life.
Munaiyir was regarded by British diplomats in Saudi Arabia as one of King Abdulaziz’s favourite wives.
She was as known for her intelligence as for her beauty. Munaiyir died in December 1991.
During the reign of King Saud, his relations with his full-brother Prince Talal became negative, even leading to contesting their inheritances.
Prince Nawwaf received his primary Arabic and Islamic education in Saudi Arabia.
He also obtained his university education in Islamic civilization in the Kingdom and completed his higher studies in the United States.
A Saudi survey conducted shortly after the 11 September attacks concluded that 95 percent of educated Saudi men aged between 25 and 41 supported ‘bin Laden’s cause.
Prince Nawwaf argued that this support is motivated by Saudi anger over U.S. support for Israel.
After the US sanctions against Iran in 2000, Prince Nawwaf said “Iran is being treated unfairly by some countries and this is not in the interests of the Arabia Gulf or even the US.”
In March 2002, Prince Nawwaf was admitted to the American University hospital in Beirut after suddenly suffering a stroke.
Prince Nawwaf was in Beirut for the Arab League summit meeting.
He is reported to have suffered a brain haemorrhage. Then he underwent a surgery in 2002. He is confined to a wheelchair following his health problems.
Prince Nawwaf is married to Jawahir Al Alsheikh, together they have three children: Abdulaziz (born 1979), Faisal (born 1984) and Sarah (born 1989).
In 2008, his daughter Princess Sarah was a student at Franklin College in Lugano, Switzerland, pursuing a degree in international communications.
Mohammed bin Nawwaf is his eldest son and has been Saudi ambassador to United Kingdom and Ireland since 2005.
Prince Nawwaf bin Abdulaziz Al Saud died on 29 September 2015 at the age of 83.