Bandar bin Sultan

Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud (born 2 March 1949) is a retired Saudi Arabian diplomat, military officer, and government official who served as Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States from 1983 to 2005. He is a member of the House of Saud. From 2005 to 2015 he served as secretary general of the National Security Council, and was director general of the Saudi Intelligence Agency from 2012 to 2014. From 2014 to 2015 he was King Abdullah's special envoy. Early life Bandar was officially born on 2 March 1949 in Taif. By his own account, and according to Western think tanks, his actual date of birth is later. He had reportedly altered his birthday (overstated his age) to enter the Royal Saudi Air Force while a teen. Bandar's parents were Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz and his Ethiopian concubine Khiziran. Both of Bandar's parents were very young at the time of his birth: his mother Khiziran was just sixteen, and was working as a maid in the palace when she first came in contact with Sultan. The royal family provided Khiziran with a generous monthly pension after Bandar was born, but told her to take her child and live with her own family. Bandar thus spent his early years in a non-royal milieu, living with his mother and aunt, and had little contact with his father until he was about eight years old. By this time, the royal family relented and invited Khiziran to bring Bandar with her and live in the palace with Prince Sultan's widowed mother, Hassa bint Ahmed Al Sudairi. Khiziran died in Riyadh in October 2019.