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To: solzhenitsyn
This is from a November 2001 newspaper article about the princes not paying their phone bills, etc.

Many Saudis grumble that the royal tribe, with an estimated 7000 princes, has grown too large for the country to sustain the opulent family welfare system begun decades ago by the founder, King Abdel Aziz al-Saud. Prince Abdullah seemed to agree. He put royal family members on notice that they should pay their electricity and phone bills as well as buy their once-gratis tickets on Saudia, the state-run airline. The telephone company reported a huge leap in paid phone bills starting in 2000.

Royal watchers believe that prince Abdullah has retreated somewhat, after an outcry from princes. At 78, the crown prince probably does not have long to institute change after King Fahd dies. Having no full brothers, he needs the support of as many important princes as possible. He may have to tolerate some of their excesses for the time being.

There are over 20,000 Royal family members which include the estimated 7,000 princes.

59 posted on 07/29/2002 7:02:00 PM PDT by snippy_about_it
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To: snippy_about_it
Thanks for the response, snippy_about_it. The following website says the Saudi royal family has 6,000 members:

http://www.nationalguild.com/fridayreports/june_28_1996.html%20

And the following sites say it's 6,000 princes (or "male members", or similar words):

http://www.islamicvoice.com/january.2002/insights.htm

http://www.travel-guide.com/data/sau/sau580.asp

http://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/law/sa__indx.html

So I don't know which is correct, but I'm very willing to believe it could be 6,000 or 7,000 princes and a total of 20,000 family members. That's a lot, and I wonder if they all have diplomatic immunity here!

71 posted on 07/29/2002 7:39:19 PM PDT by solzhenitsyn
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To: snippy_about_it
So you think slowly they are cutting back on phone bills by these sudden deaths?
96 posted on 07/29/2002 11:33:33 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
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