Saudi Arabia's revolutionary vanguard

Deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman is the face of the new Saudi Arabia. But who else is running the kingdom?

ADVERTISING boards and the walls of shops and restaurants of Riyadh display posters showing three men: King Salman, Mohammed bin Nayef and Mohammed bin Salman. One is king, the second his nephew and the third is the young man of the day, the king’s favourite son. And while the three are pictured together, all the talk in the kingdom is about just him: deputy crown prince Mohammed, second in line to the throne, often referred to as “MbS” to distinguish him from his older cousin and crown prince “MbN”. In particular, the gossip is about Saudi Vision 2030, the highly ambitious scheme unveiled by MbS to end the kingdom’s reliance on oil and introduce a vast array of economic and social reforms.