Prince Aziz and entourage arrive in Marbella.
The arrival of members of the Saudi royal family always generates a buzz of excitement in Marbella and this year is no different. Prince Abdul Aziz, son of the 80-year-old King Salman, recently arrived with his retinue at the Al Riyadh Palace, which is located above Marbella’s Golden Mile, at the end of July for a summer holiday of unspecified length.
The prince, born in 1960, is the King’s fourth son and was made the Saudi Kingdom’s State Minister for Energy Affairs in 2017. The energy in question is of course Saudi Arabia’s ‘black gold’, which to the rest of us is known as oil. The prince is well qualified to take on this important job as he has both a science degree and an MBA in Industrial Administration from the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. Before taking political office, he was an academic teaching energy studies, but since 1987 he has worked in various government posts related to Saudi’s oil business. The prince is a popular figure in his home country and he is equally well liked in Marbella as the Saudi royal family’s presence in the resort has done so much to raise the town’s profile.The Saudi presence also has an exceptionally uplifting effect on Marbella’s economy. In the past, the Saudi royals have been known to spend $5 million a day during their Marbella vacations. On the late King Fahd’s last visit to his Spanish palace he arrived with 3,000 guests and staff. He booked 300 hotel rooms, hired another 500 staff and imported 100 new Mercedes from Germany, as Giles Tremlett reported in The Guardian. When the entourage left seven weeks later, they had spent around €90 million; an enormous boost to the local economy. The Saudi royals are known for their love of shopping in the upmarket boutiques of Puerto Banús and Marbella, and for packing out restaurants and nightclubs. Yet that is not the only way in which they have benefitted the area; they brought it to the attention of their wealthy friends across the Middle East, who followed in the royal family’s footsteps and over the years have purchased some of Marbella’s most exclusive real estate. We hope that the Prince and his entourage enjoy their summer vacation and that it helps to shine an even brighter light on Marbella’s latest upmarket restaurants and luxury retailers, as well as its newest, high-end real estate developments.
If you are also interested in what Marbella has to offer, Altavista Property has an excellent selection of modern apartments and villas for sale – and they don’t cost as much as a palace.
