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Note: The following post is a quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1997472/posts

Saudi prince gives Cambridge University £8m for Islamic studies centre
London Telegraph ^ | April 6, 2008 | Julie Henry, Education Correspondent
Posted on 04/05/2008 10:22:17 PM PDT by rdl6989

Cambridge University has been given £8 million by a Saudi Arabian prince to establish an Islamic studies centre.

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, ranked in the top 20 richest men in the world, with a fortune of about £10 billion, has donated the cash to the university to fund a centre in his name for the study of the role of Islam in the Middle East and globally.

The gift has been recommended by the university’s general board and is expected to be announced in June. advertisement

The grandson of King Ibn Saud and nephew of King Abudllah, the prince counts the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall among his friends.

With a huge portfolio generating massive returns – he calls his investments his “hundred wives” – the 50-year-old is the biggest single shareholder in Citigroup, the world’s biggest bank.

In 2005 he bought the Savoy Hotel in London for about £220 million. Last year, he became the first person to buy an Airbus A380 superjumbo to use as a private jet, dubbed the “flying palace”.

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal hit the headlines in 2001 when his offer of cash for the victims of the September 11 attacks in New York was turned down after he criticised American foreign policy. New York’s then mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, rejected a £6.6 million donation when the businessman issued a statement that America had to adopt a “more balanced stance” on Palestine. The row belies the prince’s influence in America, however.

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...