RIYADH: King Khalid of Saudi Arabia to­­day [March 29] reshuffled the Cabinet, ap­­pointing Crown Prince and Interior Mini­ster Prince Fahd Ibn Abdel Aziz, as First Deputy Prime Minister, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The agency said a Royal decree issued by the King also appointed Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdel Aziz, Commander of the National Guard, as Second Deputy Prime Minister. Prince Saud al-Faisal … became Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Prince Nayef … took over as Minister of State for Internal Affairs. …

King Khalid disclosed … that President Anwar Sadat of Egypt put the Egyptian Army at his disposal … after the news of King Faisal’s assassination had broken. In an interview with the Beirut “Daily Star” … the King said, Mr Sadat, who had made the offer by telephone, had feared that the assassination heralded a coup d’état.

“I told him, however”, King Khalid said, “that it was an isolated act. His (Sadat’s) voice sounded as if he had been crying during our telephonic conversation”. … At the moment of the assassination he, Khalid, had been in his palace drinking tea when the telephone rang. “Someone told me shots had been fired in the King’s room.”

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2025