الوليد بن طلال سرد الذات

that's $ million from me to you he's the fifth richest man in the world the biggest foreign investor in America and major shareholder in the world's best known brand he meets global leaders and business icons so why is so little known about Prince aled the World Trade Center Twin Towers lay smoldering one month after being struck down in terrorist attack involving Arab hijackers many of them from Saudi Arabia America was still in shock Prince aled flew in from his home in the Saudi Capital Riyad for just day to express his sympathy and offer some help I'm here to give my condolences to you and all the families and to show our alliance with you and sympathy and support he ground with New York's mayor Rudolph Giuliani at time when the city was consumed with anger at the Arab world that's number one here number one up 104 stories Prince aled had most of his 20 billion Empire lodged in the US economy and carried with him large check for the victims and families well Mr Mayor you know I'm not going to take much of your time don't you're so busy came all the way from Riad Saudi Arabia just to see you and give my contribution personally to you right now for the people in New York and hopefully it will help and as much as you can under your leadership we need your help and that's $10 million from me to you and please we'll be in touch for anything that you may need we very much need your help and your support all was going well until the prince issued press release that created controversial media storm the line that most upset the New York mayor stated we must address some of the issues that led to such criminal attack and adopt more balanced stance to the Palestinian cause Giuliani rejected the $10 million check and publicly criticized the prince for making political statement the aftermath of the 9/11 attack was the first time took notice of the name aled binal and wanted to find out more the prince agreed to give me an exclusive and candid look at his life over one year so traveled to the south of France where he was taking his summer vacation we began with tour of his huge floating palace with 5kr thanks guys these are the flags of the companies involved in okay all these These are the companies involved with all these and nationally regionally internationally are they growing or shrinking well most of them are growing thanks God okay excellent mean is the number of flags growing if they don't grow don't grow and where else do you find where do you find refuge in this boat where is your sort of quiet spot there's no Qui spot here at all mean there's no Qui spot at all no he's busy and Jens is parachuting right now okay that's Mike that's he's parachuting he began already and how much did you pay for it what very bargain price it's less than $20 million less than 20 million yeah because actually the insurance value of this boat is more than $100 million it was bargain at that time so you're doing business even with your pleasure item well sure mean myself would not build at that time would not built it but it came at really bargain price so did it it has bit of history doesn't it definitely yes it was owned by Adan kuki and then by Trump and sulan brunai also owned it for short while and it was in film as well yes it was in film yeah the James Bond James Bond yeah that was never say never again and it certainly feels like you're walking through the set of James Bond movie when you're on five-story boat of this size it costs $6 million year just to maintain it water skiing swim walk jog and volleyball tennis basketball everything and how much do you encourage that kind of activity with the within your staff very much so you've seen you know all of them began with me and the ended with me so they all fit all the one of them one or two of them smoke once in while the lifestyle on this boat is distinctly Western and seems far removed from the prince's Saudi Roots but he's very much at home in this culture too maybe because he started coming to can with his father more than 30 years ago it's since become their destination for the Arab Elite and now as self-made billionaire he makes sure he has everything he could possibly need and this helicopter was named after my daughter and we use it sometimes if we need to go to close by destination from can we just have shortcut rather than going for 2 3 hours by car just go do 15 minutes with this one that the desert Prince feels at home on the sea as well or really you know anyway where you have nature whether it's the sea the snow or desert feel at home really like it finish Jensen was among small group of guests invited to join the prince on the 5K every summer one stands out in particular was curious to know how Californian by the name of Chuck ended up in the Entourage of Saudi Royal well met the prince when was in working in big department store back in California and he came in one morning and he was looking for some merchandise in another area in which wasn't working and that's how we became connected and he called me later on that evening and went over to his home in Aon California and came over with equipment of music stereo equipment and we we stayed up His Highness and myself until 5:00 a.m. setting up all the merchandise as would discover to my cost the prince likes to stay up all night reading extensively and making international business calls and his entourage is expected to keep up we set off for the shore in the late evening to have 4 hours of business and social meetings in cafes but not before Prince aled's regular power walk along the prominade how do people react to you when you're walking with an Entourage you have bodyguards with you you work through quite public area how do you find people react to you think they're used to that now mean these are not only bodyguards and these are friends also you know really like the Mediterranean plus can is Central located from here you can go within 12 hours to Italy you can go to Spain corica Sardinia Allin 20 12 hours in my boat press him very hard to have this meeting so we can really have this Fairmont Plaza and the Meridian meetings all same day okay okay we're ready thank you see you then see you in par give it the prince survives on about 5 hours of sleep daily getting up at around 11:00 in the morning his long days help him to keep across the world's financial markets and give him time to pack in meetings exercise dining and lots of reading cannot switch off at all because we are co-working so many fronts and they all need close and and continuous attention and don't mind it like it and Frankly Speaking to me there's no vacation completely as his doctor don't you worry about his health his health is like excellent he is in excellent Health we do checkups every year everything is excellent for the staff keeping up with their boss is quite challenge know how to cope with his Royal Highness know when to have 10 minutes sleep when when can have it in order to keep on going if have 2 hours of non-stop things to do the prince has constant meetings on the yacht on this occasion he'd gathered top Executives from the Arab Music Industry after acquiring full ownership of the Rotana label he wanted to launch music channel to Spotlight his large list of top recording artists within year Rotan was Smash Hit with three channels on air the prince selected the right people for it plus he was involved directly in each and every small detail and you know how energetic he is and how dedicated he is when doing something he was he's very picky and and he follows every small detail and think this is what made the success we have to do something to solve it and your account runs into the billions around 20 billion in your case can you actually spend the money as fast as you make it no not really mean when you say $20 billion that's that's the total wealth have but obviously if guy's income from that let's say is around $500 $600 million every year for sure he can spend it on on on on personal basis but obviously he can reinvest it in into into projects into into buying more companies that that need assistance and help and and create more wealth obviously the scale of your your vacation as you take it though are you able to say what what you spend on vacation like this spend spend quite bit no details no spend quite bit but you know the important thing is is that I'm happy my family is happy and my the people around me are happy it's the end of the visit to can and aled and his son Prince Khaled go through the tradition of saying goodbye to the crew over the next 11 months they'll clean polish and maintain the yacht to ensure it's ready for the Royal arrival next summer it's hard to imagine but the prince has now outgrown this vessel and he already has the next one on the drawing board more than twice the size of the 5kr it accommodates at least two helicopters and the prince has planned it to be the biggest and most expensive private yacht in the world excuse me condition please aled likes to travel with his people whether in regular tourist coach or in what at first appears to be regular Boeing 767 this type of airliner usually holds about 200 people across continents in relative Comfort but after refit the prince has his own version of first classo from 2 63.2 it's short hop to Paris but with crew of nine and growing staff leg rooms getting tight so the prince is refitting 747 kingdom style but even up here he can still find corner for his prayers Chuck gets nervous in turbulence and the prince is quick to tease him about it that's it we're going to die and go in 16 minutes chy how much story ended that's it you can eat chocolates as much as you want that's it eat one that's it you're going to die the left lot of people visiting Paris are looking for the latest fashions along the shaniz when the prince went shopping on the tarmac of lour airport it was to buy small Jet and six finalists carefully selected from around the world were lined up for his inspection with an energetic Pace he didn't waste time and knew exactly what he was looking for was about to get my first glimpse of his negotiation skills well the sellers soon realized they were up against tough customer with only minutes to State their case and the CH Market is not very good at so we have three aircraft and really only business for two okay you can't put seat here you can there isn't one but you can yes can you call the captain please yes Michael do you always do business at such pace yeah everything is done very quickly and this ision very Swift because it looks like you've just come in and decided to buy plane last minute no no no no no this is this the decision has been taken 2 months ago and the resarch began two months ago and you at the haggle stage almost with enough wealth to buy 5,000 of these Jets it's surprising he would haggle at all but this businessman Prince is always looking for the best deal even billionaire likes bargain it's all matter of scale the kingdom will buy one of the haer CES but you have to compete and tell them we pay tomorrow morning if we can have the contact ready some people spend hours shopping but Prince aled needed just 20 minutes even buay it is not the best hotel but nice state for hotel but we need another Dubai another mov there for our Landmark but came sheep we have why not The Pianist no longer plays Mission Impossible every time the prince appears puzzled aled had asked him why he chose such tune when nothing is impossible one person who makes things possible for the prince wherever and whenever is RF Abu head of communications met up with him at his makeshift control center at theor highness is connected man wherever he is he should have phone and he should have TV sometimes he have conference call two three two three conference call day just when he's working he said okay want conference call with this guy this guy have to make all the people online and he talked to them and he make deals yeah it's very important because like to be informed like telecommunications like technology like to be like to know what's going on around me very much hello Brett did explain to the situation so he does business on the Fly he does business business whatever think even when he's sleeping he does business I'm sure among aled's many Investments the sank is particularly close to his heart perhaps because his father used to bring him here as child he now owns it 100% well you know this very historical Hotel this hotel has been built more more than 70 years ago plus when bought it it was really the situation detated substantially it became almost three star hotel so once we took it we we renovated it and we invested in lot and in in two years after its operation became number one the hotel and just two weeks ago it was announced number one hotel in the world also for the third consecutive year he's always had desire to own that hotel and we had bit of difference of opinion because of did it make Financial was it good economic investment to buy it to fix it the process you'd have to go through but must give him credit He restored it according to what we believe was necessary which meant closing the hotel literally gutting it and restoring it Beyond its former glory mean what you see today is much better than it ever was the flowers alone cost $1 million per year and such feature that people come in just to see them the prince was involved in many of the details of the refurbishment and added personal touches well you know I'm Muslim I'm an Arab I'm very proud of my my Heritage and my culture and just put two verses of the Quran that are very relevant and very close to my heart and put them in the main entrance of the of the lobby over here they say if you thank your God your God will give you more that's one verse the other verse says all this is from my God's blessings Al has invested heavily into the hotel sector and bought into the Four Seasons and fermon groups before they became top Global Brands more recently he added mpic to the list he's also established his own Investment Group which owns growing portfolio of properties across the Middle East his debut in the hotel business was not at the real estate level he he took an interest in for Seasons Hotels management company and then was Fairmont hotels management company it was very much driven with vision and strategy around it it was not an opportunistic ad hoc accident this Prime land this is this is heart of Damascus we had to get it without this would not be home run the prince is is person that builds his Investments around Partnerships doesn't go alone and that's why we go and invest in Four Seasons we don't try and rebuild another brand and try to compete with Four Seasons they're very good at it they've done it for many years we go in and we tag along their success and try to enhance the value of that investment same thing with fair amount same thing with mov Pig he has lot of knowledge about the industry he thinks about it very strategically and he actively helps helps the companies that he invests in when we look at the Fairmont investment that he made it was roughly the same time as His Four Seasons investment and again think that both the underlying real estate and the ultimate Equity value that he has in our company has performed very well so he has been he has been winner as far as Hotel Investments are concerned but not all his Investments have fairy story ending we've had some challenges many people in his situation if they hadn't had instant Financial gratification may have may have run away but at the end of the day you make some money out of deal like City bank you probably will lose some out of stuff like Disney or some people say that he's pulled out at the wrong time from Canary wolf but still that doesn't belittle his achievements and belittle his financial standing the same people make the same critique about Warren Buffett and find it amusing that the two most successful investors in the world today the wealthiest two full-time investors in the world today have similar strategy and follow it out identically both are known as Buy and Hold both are critiqued that they don't know when to sell they know their strategy and how to carry it out and it is clearly successful it is development that is way ahead of its its age clearly there's an issue with the capital structure because it has too much debt on it through Disney it's it's it's force and power to be reckon with and its best days are yet to come in the future every deal is not equally successful in anything that you do and can't put myself in his shoes but think him being involved with investing in Disney whether it's Euro Disney or whether it's the parent company the Walt Disney Company gives him portfolio and credibility to go together with his City Bank which was obviously great financial deal and other great deals he has while he's down on his high-profile Euro Disney investment it's had very little impact on his overall portfolio and doesn't trouble him financially though it may become one of the most expensive roller coaster rides he takes as we headed out from Paris the prince's trip was coming to an end and would soon be leaving my look at his summer vacation it struck me that in 2 weeks I'd experienced what only handful of people get to see as the 767 came into view and we drove straight onto the tarmac realized how the world is such small place when you have your own private jet with no pushing trolley full of luggage and no queuing at airports let's go when when it's delivered the prince's new 747 will only add to that Comfort was starting to see his life as one surprise after another and that's the case at every Port of Call trading by gold in this opening CH about 3 minutes remaining and straight through to the Prince of Wales the Prince of Wales kept under the watchful eye of Alan Mass he sends it through the prince's company was sponsoring prestigious Polo competition attended by the British Elite despite coming from different cultures and traditions all Royals speak Common Language even casual moments have an air of formality although Prince to Prince few secrets are revealed aled told Prince Charles how his uncle Crown Prince Abdullah had let Queen Elizabeth Drive him around her estate during his visit to Britain the Crown Prince confessed he'd been terrified by her driving Prince Charles smiled mly hope you see you in India New York was the destination for me to find out about the prince's Investments after all he's the largest foreign investor on Wall Street his portfolio stretches across dozens of American companies all of them household names his strategy is to research Major Brands set price Target and move in only when that Target is reached this is how he bought into rer Murdoch's powerful Media Company news call when the Australian Tycoon was down on his luck in 1996 it created the perfect opportunity for an investor like aled very shrewd very analytical yet at the same time I'm prepared to to gamble and to go against the prevailing thoughts about markets and so he's he's very original in his thinking joined the prince on his way to meet the top Executives at City Group more than half his wealth is invested in the company back in 1991 bad loans left the bank urgently needing major cash injection no one was willing to risk their money were we on our knees yes were we substantively on our knees in the sense that if You' brought an accountant in would he have said that no but the markets felt that he really had done his homework he understood what we were he understood what our weaknesses were what our strengths were what the opportunities were and so it was you know there was no need for long explanation on my part as to where we were going and why we went through some bad times after the prince had made his investment and he was very good he was professional he want to know what was going on he gave me the the benefit of his point of view but he didn't jump up and down and yell at me and say hey Reed you should do this and you should do that all of sudden here was somebody completely unknown to the normal individual becoming the largest shareholder of the largest financial institution in the United States Prince aled ended up with nearly 15% of the bank which worried the US Federal Reserve he'd come on the scene not long after the ill fated Bank of credit and commerce International BCCI collapsed under the weight of money laundering and fraud involving Saudi investors American Regulators were tense and ultimately failed to permit the prince to keep his entire stake bowing to regulations he sold some stock to meet 10% restriction on foreign ownership of US Banks think this was at time when there were some other problems in the banking industry and where you know there had been concern about people fronting for consortiums and so on not not related to City Corp but to other financial institutions and so The Regulators were perhaps justifiably very little nervous about you know who is this what is this and so on many questioned how the prince had raised nearly $600 million to invest in City core well we've seen him make money in real estate locally we've seen him make money in Contracting lot of money in Contracting in real estate in Saudi Arabia even more money in his Investments overseas all of which that has gone through us so City Bank is certain I'm certain that the money was made both legally and it was made in his name it was his money think that the prince yeah really stepped up to the plate at very difficult time and for and for enough money to make the whole transaction very believable and think that you know what he did really saved the bank he is really long-term investor so the prince is Vindicated as long-term investor the decade between 1991 and 2001 saw his City Bank shares increased by $8.2 billion in the 12 months up to 2004 Forbes Magazine lists his wealth increasing by $3.8 billion just imagine that's more than $10 million day 400,000 an hour or $120 every second traveling onto his daughter's graduation he put aside the business calls and television monitoring to share the moment surrounded by friends and family he beamed like any other proud father what's the next step for you now well guess I'm going to get some work experience then I'll think about my masters what about the celebration just out of words don't know I'm so happy all my family is here thisness your emotion on this day too I'm very proud of fre she's good lady Magi she going to work with me and her brother the pressure begins now just began keeping tight schedule the prince left his daughter and made his way to New Haven's Harford bran airport waiting for him there was the private jet I'd witnessed him haggling over in Paris just 5 months earlier the Haw of Sly had already been refitted and painted in the colors of his music and entertainment company Rotana it was time for another detailed aled inspection what made you take up skiing well as you know he've been with me now for several months and you know like Sports and do all kind of sports maybe around 40 kind of sports but you only started it few years ago yeah well got it from my children are you able to keep up with them I'm trying the Prince's son and daughter joined him at the ski resort later and wanted their view on how he mixes the demands of his tough business life with family time especially when there's phone constantly in his hand yeah you can begin 2122 begin and then we'll see where to go all all cash all cash Prince Al is is very busy he's you know professional and international businessman he crams so much in that he may not have enough time for family how do you react to that kind of idea you're mistaken he does have lots of time for family it's very amazing how he switches so fast it's difficult situation for you you're woman working in Saudi Arabia the climate hasn't been ideal for woman to be independent how do you feel about that well it's starting to develop now mean if you think like 5 years before now it's like women never used to work you wouldn't even think about it but now it's it's it's developing how did your relationship with your father change once there was professional element to it as far as business it really there's always there's always difference between between father son and then employee employer and in the office it's always it's always boss of course there's always the element of father because there is always higher respect as as demand it as well as Islam demands it is proverb in Arabic that says no one nothing scratches your back like your fingers and they are my fingers my my brain my my mind and my heart these two aled's Royal start began in 1957 with quite pedigree his father Prince Dalal was the 21st son of the late King abdulaziz the founder of modern Saudi Arabia while his mother princess Mauna was the daughter of lebanon's first Post Independent prime minister Riyad alah aled's parents were very independent characters who ended up divorcing when the prince was just 5 years old always wanted them to be together you know it's like other child wanted to be next to to his mother and father but since this thing could not happen and materialize had to bear with the fact that have had to divide my time between my father and mother the young aled shuttled between his mother's home in beut and Riyad in Saudi Arabia where his younger brother and sister sister stayed with their father Prince Dalal had not long returned from Exile in Egypt for his outspoken political comments calling for reform in the Saudi Kingdom despite awe and respect for his strict father aled LED an undisciplined and unsettled life as witnessed by his childhood friends his personal life his family life wasn't stable and school required some kind of stability and think between the boarding schools in Lebanon between living home between England between Saudi Arabia it became bit of of of turbulent thing for him and this turbulent childhood made aled ignore his studies and constantly run away from home leading to more than one merry Chase to find him and my father sent six seven eight people to look at me all over riy and actually when was thought that I'm going to go to place where they will never think I'll be in I'll be in so went to my to my bedroom inside the house of my father was there for 3 4 days and look at me all over the place excluding that place so was in the place where they never thought would be he was the rebel because the divorce between his mother and father he took the side of his mother more than once and this made him in sense an outcast so he wasn't he didn't enjoy the Privileges of of the other young Saudi Prince another childhood friend recalls the complex relationship and emotional tension the prince had having to call two very different countries home he is Prince he's at the same time Lebanese and Saudi so different cultures different ways of thinkings different minds and think that it was even for him very difficult to be able to be Lebanese at the same time and Sai was wondering if you brought him back to Saudi Arabia to the military academy because he was so rebellious it was one of the turning points in my life whereby be be became very self- dependent independent and very much myself doing washing the toilets bathrooms having breakfast 6 6:00 in the morning and have having her breakfast lentil soup and spaghetti walking through the grounds of his old school in beut pondered on the influences that had shaped him from the divorce of his parents to life in military academy which possibly explains his obsessive Precision at work and play even now there was also strong competitive Spirit at an early age daily ritual we had 1 hour of Monopoly and practically every single time he beat me and think had brains to to be able to resist his unso but he always managed to beat me in Monopoly so knew that he's going to make money Keen to study at the International College in beut the prince finally buried his head in books and passed his exams with flying colors but remained lively teenager drug racing the wildlife yeah we had our Beirut then was was place where the good life was all over it was abundant for somebody Young well connected some cash he could he could manage but lebanon's Civil War changed the young Prince's plans in April 1975 the destruction of baru began in prolonged and bitter Civil War and the Young Prince was forced to seek University admission overseas choosing Menlo College in California being so far from Riyad and his family he had little to do except focus on his studies presume it was real lonely time for him because he was there all by himself there wasn't anyone else it was just him him and me and the phone calls of Saudi Arabia and school that was basically it chuck would come to visit him here at this typical American Ranch House social life was almost non-existent and all the prince focused on was getting his degree in Business Administration and getting back home by the time he returned to Riyad to tap into the oil boom he had new responsibilities he had married and had baby boy Prince Khaled was was born in April 1978 the young father quickly set up camp in the Saudi Capital to make his fortune in the remarkable business environment fueled by Black Gold commissions from contracts were quick way to fill the bank account but aled wanted more he wanted to practice what he had just learned in the USA some companies who used to just sign with the contractors used to work with them used to raise equity for them get debt for them and work work really very hard for them don't know if say this but you know Royals in general they earn their living by being royal what made him different is that he earned his way aled started by taking on the banking sector with Saudi Arabia's first hostile takeover long hours and tough measures turned the United Saudi Commercial Bank from Loss maker to profitability in less than two years following up with series of mergers and Acquisitions the prince eventually ended up creating the powerful Saudi American Bank sambba the Region's leading player became in the eye of the hurricane seeing everything took the decision over there whereby no one could buy even pencil without my approval my personal approval if company is sleeping not doing good if you have bad management and have management are doing good then it should be candate for take over and that's what we did so we we we gave message to the companies that if you don't wake up you for take over the prince's small business soon grew into one of Saudi Arabia's most influential the kingdom holding company which in early 2004 relocated from small two-story building to the 66th floor of aled's landmark Kingdom Tower built on land he bought at bargain price during Iraq's invasion of Kuwait his son and daughter now work with him joining core team of about two dozen people who run his business Empire basically most of the ideas he likes to bring himself because he trusts the fact that he has gone through deep thinking before versus somebody else bringing an idea because it sounded good you know he plays poker hand you know you can not know whether he really wants to do wants to continue with the deal or not or whether he's lost interest you know he even has his own people sometimes confused as as to what's happening the prince has also actively started to recruit women particularly Saudis into his ranks it's very important for His Highness to have ladies playing big role the society as he's doing in his company in his Palace he's giving them the power to prove themselves now firmly settled in Riyad he keeps no homes outside Saudi Arabia why bother when he can build his own Resort and Oasis on the outskirts of town actually this is land that was forgotten and no one really utilized it so just took it and developed it and bought it for almost nothing and just developed it with minimum amount of money and we just got this gous product and this is really is valued right now more than 10 times what what bought it for guess no one's going to argue about you driving on your own grass nice weather to beautiful home sweet home has 317 rooms Prince aled now single after three divorces lives in the center with his children in separate Wings the 460,000 Ft Riyad Palace feels like small City with 18 sitting rooms 15 dining rooms hairdressing salons and its own sports center the whole place is interconnected by series of corridors and elevators Prince saled values having his son and daughter close to him especially after nearly losing Prince Khaled in terrible accident when he was just 15 was on jet ski and did one of stupid moves and everything used to do which worked pretty well before don't know why it didn't this time but anyway end up crushing my skull and paralyzing my right side he he broke his head the bones were broken and they were like this mean well mly from the sagittal archery of the brain God forbid he was bye-bye first time walked and was on having the cane and saw my dad walk away I'm like why is my dad walking away he went behind just like behind corridor and just held his head down and and he cried first time see my dad cry and remember it like yesterday today Prince Khaled is in full health and back on his jet ski he's little more cautious on the water well most of the time every weekend the prince puts aside his billionaire trappings to visit the place where he feels most at home after seeing his luxury lifestyle and talking to his friends and family was curious to discover why this remote place is so special to him who is aled when he's alone out here at his desert Camp couple of hours dry from Riyad the prince switches gear what goes through his mind think of everything think of last week last month let last year last decade and think of the future where I'm right now where I'm heading see not the single decision in my life whether this personal or professional nothing no decision has been taken without me being desert your City Bank deal was done thought up in the desert or confirmed in the desert it was it it was thought of in the desert and it was finalized from the desert and it was signed through through by by facts through from the desert it's kind of ironic that man who can have almost anything he wants comes to place where there is nothing you know just feel much very much at home you know the serenity the openness the freedom the Liberty you have here to me is very important you have lot how much do you give back yeah you know in Islam you have one one pillar of Islam is zakat zakat is Islamic tax and it is two two and half% of of assorting formula that not not necessarily related only to income but to wealth net worth so do apply that obviously but do lot more than that who do you target with your charity the needy people the on who wants to get married the one who has loan the one likees to go to hospital it's wide array of of of of of people that we contribute to the prince says he gives $100 million to charity every year and has dozen staff to manage his contributions but also saw that he likes to personally meet with those to whom he donates look this guy sleeps here do you believe this or now during the holy month of Ramadan was given the very rare chance to follow him through poor area as he went from house to house giving envelopes containing cash each package is filled with the equivalent of 1,200 to directly Target Saudis in that amount matches about year's rent for most of these people it may seem random as he wanders through the ghetto but in actual fact it's part of highly efficient charity program that keeps track of who gets what though Saudi Arabia gets the bulk of his charity in beut where he spent much of his childhood he has set up foundation to handled the huge number of requests he gets for help from Lebanon the organization is headed by his aunt who says they don't just throw money at problems so many people can take money and go prefer to exam very carefully all the demands of the institutions they are asking and and after to give them instead of money supplies or materials in medical materials or computers or anything instead of money lot of wealthy people are accused of giving money as way to appease their guilt for having so much themselves no no from my point of view have no guilt at all because the money got it was earned the hard way it was not inherited it was not given to me so don't have guilt at all from that point of view when the beds come to meet you at your desert Camp I've seen them recite and and they petition you what what exactly is the process explain that to me the process that they come here and some of them will come and just say hello and give their good wishes some of them petition and give their certain requests and there's committee in my Palace that goes over all these papers and there's certain criteria that have to be met and each one is is is granted an amount proportionate to the need that that has been designated by our people from weekly encounters with desert bedwin to Global trips meeting political leaders the prince easily slips between Arab and Western worlds rich and poor and the powerful and weak how could this cross-cultural skill serve him there are hints that aled is nurturing political Ambitions either in Lebanon or Saudi Arabia where he's been calling for reform like his father once did he believes in democracy and I've read some of his statements which are quite surprising he has in in in effect called for direct elections or elections in Saudi Arabia and as Top member of the royal family I'm sure that he received some criticism from his brothers and sisters and cousins because of that statement but think that demonstrates his his his personal commitment to expanding the beneficial aspects of democrat democracy but the prince has already learned that politics is difficult titre to walk between different emotions beliefs and personal or party agendas so was aled's visit to ground zero in New York lost in politics or did it become powerful political move for him America was not in mood to listen and people said he could have either waited or come up with some other kind of scheme but the fact that the the check was rejected thought didn't put him in good light although it was rejected because he linked it to the US policy overseas especially in the Middle East yes and that gained him some points because he was Frank and and one of the things that people said at least while giving the SE had the gut to say that you have to have an equal policy for the Middle East people were looking for somebody very honest from this part of the world to speak his mind and Prince AED was perfect candidate for that we respected him lot and we think that he went there just to prove to the Americans that being an Arab is not being terrorist automatically or being Muslim is not also being terrorist automatically think it started fine and it ended in very bad way because it wasn't question of what he was saying and whether that was right or wrong it was the wrong platform to be delivering that message to that mayor in this city at that time would say just one word politics have very good relationship in the west and very good relationship in the East not only in my my country but in my region so I'm going to use that to really Bridge the both societies as much as can so I'm not going to say I'm not going to get involved in politics I'm not going to involved in what's going on between West and East when know can do something can't just say I'm going to businessman and that's about it no think the the fact that they have this this statue and and this this this this this this position like to leverage it and use it it takes long time to get complete picture of The Prince and even then the picture doesn't tell the full story from Early Childhood the prince has always persevered to get what he wants so what's his next step well the story of aled businessman bil iire Prince is certainly far from over for