(MENAFN- The Peninsula) New Saudi Crown Prince Muqrin represents the biggest break from the kingdom's tradition of any of his predecessors in the role because of his lowly maternal birth and foreign education.
Seen as a relative progressive in the ruling family, with a grasp on the need for long-term reform, Muqrin has voiced traditional hawkish views on Iran, but it is far from clear how much influence he will have during new King Salman's reign.
The affable former fighter pilot, long a member of the ruling family's top circle of strategic decisionmakers and intelligence chief from 2005-2012, appears on paper to have stolid qualifications required by his family to rule.
But the 69-year-old heir to King Salman will be the first monarch born after Saudi struck oil in 1939, and the first to attend a Western university instead of the home classes run by clerics in Riyadh's old mud palace.
And, as the son of King Abdulaziz by a Yemeni woman instead of a wife of high tribal birth, he has no full siblings in the ruling dynasty and has often been seen as something of an outsider, condescended to by haughtier relatives. "Muqrin is not as conservative but we will see how much of a role he will play in the new reign. According to Saudi law, the crown prince cannot do more than what he is assigned by the king," said Khalid Al Dakheel, a political science professor in Riyadh. When he was appointed deputy crown prince by Abdullah a year ago, Muqrin promised in a statement carried by state media to continue the late king's economic and social reforms.
"He gives you an impression of a progressive guy who knows the world very well. When he was governor of Madinah he made reforms and he is into culture and music," said Jamal Khashoggi, head of a television news channel owned by another prince.
"He's bilingual and an avid reader of The Economist. It's his favourite magazine," he added.
Perhaps unsurprisingly for a member of the ruling family, which sees itself as locked in a region-wide struggle with Iran for control of the Middle East, he is seen as hawkish on Shia Iran.
The youngest son of the founder of Saudi Arabia, he is a genial former Air Force captain, diplomats say, and is a close friend of his nephew Prince Bandar, another former spy chief, with whom he served in the military.
Prince Muqrin trained as a military pilot at Cranwell, a British Royal Air Force base, and is described by diplomats as outgoing and gregarious.
He served for nearly 20 years as governor of Hail province before being promoted to the post of governor of Medina province in 1999.
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