The heir to the Saudi throne Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdel Aziz has died today.
His death has caused a constitutional crisis as questions are asked about who should succeed to the throne.
The 85-year-old crown prince, who was the half brother of the ailing Saudi King Abdullah died at a hospital in New York City.
Aziz, who was the oil-rich kingdom's deputy prime minister, had been defence minister and minister of aviation for about four decades.
With Prince Sultan's death, his brother Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz, the longtime minister of interior, becomes the most likely candidate to be next in line to rule after King Abdullah.
A statement carried on state news agency SPA and state television said: 'With deep sorrow and sadness the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz mourns the death of his brother and his Crown Prince Sultan... who died at dawn this morning Saturday outside the kingdom following an illness.'
Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was sad to hear of the Crown Prince's death: 'He served the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for many years with great dignity and dedication.
'His contribution to the prosperity and development of the Kingdom will long be remembered.
'I would like to offer my sincere condolences to the Kingdom and its people at this sad time.'
The Prince of Wales was said to have sent a personal letter of condolence to the King of Saudi Arabia.
A Clarence House spokesman said: 'The Prince of Wales sent a personal letter of condolence to the King of Saudi Arabia expressing his deep sadness at the news.'
SAUDI SUCCESSION: WHO WILL BE NEXT ON THE THRONE
Unlike a traditional monarchy the succession of Saudi kingship goes from brother to brother, rather than father to son.
The ruling royal family and the successor will always come from the House of Saud, which is one of the wealthiest and most powerful dynasties in the world, comprising of 7,000 members.
Currently the throne goes from brother to brother of the children of King Abdul-Aziz.
The House of Saud is composed of the descendants of Muhammad ibn Saud and his brothers, though the ruling faction of the family is primarily led by the descendants of Abdulaziz ibn Abdul Rahman Al Saud.
The order of succession to the throne of Saudi Arabia is determined by, and within, the House of Saud. It strictly follows agnatic seniority, but a prince may be surpassed, or another elevated. The Allegiance Council was created in 2006 to facilitate the royal transfer of power.
At least two brothers, Bandar and Musaid, are older than King Abdullah and Mishaal is older than Sultan.
But each has stepped aside due to health reasons, family consensus, or unwillingness to participate in governing.
He received a diagnosis of colon cancer in 2004.
While Saudi Arabia insisted he was fully cured, diplomats in Riyadh said he had slowly retreated from participating in decision-making and often worked only for one or two hours a day.
Many of his duties had been informally shifted to other princes, most notably to his son Khaled who led Saudi and Arab forces during the 1991 war to remove Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army from Kuwait.
Prince Khaled, who is assistant defense minister, is also the owner of influential pan-Arab daily al-Hayat.
While he was defense minister, Sultan spent hundreds of billions to modernize the forces of the country where Islam was born 1400 years ago, doubling the regular armed forces to more than 100,000 men and buying advanced weapons from all over the world.
Born in Riyadh, Sultan was educated by private tutors and spoke some English.
He was keen to maintain close ties with the West, especially the United States, though like the rest of the royal family he distanced himself from the U.S.-led attack on Iraq in 2003.
The most likely candidate for the throne after Sultan is Prince Nayef, the powerful interior minister in charge of internal security forces. After Sultan fell ill, the king gave Nayef an implicit nod in 2009 by naming him second deputy prime minister, traditionally the post of the third in line.
Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef is seen as being close to ultra-conservative clerics. Anyone who rises to the throne is likely to maintain the kingdom's close alliance with the United States. But there could be internal differences.
Abdullah has been seen as a reformer, making incremental changes to improve the position of women, for example, and to modernize the kingdom despite some backlash from the ultra-conservative Wahhabi clerics who give the royal family the religious legitimacy needed to rule. Nayef, for example, is often seen as closer to the clerics.
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