How this archive was made

Purpose

The archive documents the life, career and public role of Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, and places that role in the context of Saudi foreign policy. It is written for researchers, students, journalists and general readers, and aims to be useful to readers of any political view.

Research method

Research for the current edition was completed on 11 September 2026. It began with official Saudi sources — the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Saudi Press Agency — and the records of international organisations and partner governments, supplemented by reputable news organisations and research institutes. Every factual claim was assigned a confidence level:

Verified — official

Stated by a Saudi government source or by another government or international organisation.

Verified — press

Reported consistently by two or more reputable publications.

Single source

Only one usable source. Published only with attribution in the text.

Unverified or conflicting

Not published as fact. Where relevant, the conflict itself is described.

Some Saudi Press Agency pages block automated access. Where their text was read through the verbatim mirror maintained by GlobalSecurity.org, the citation says so.

Editorial standards

• Neutrality. The archive describes; it does not campaign. Contested events are presented with the Saudi position, other international positions and their current status.
• Attribution. Three kinds of statement are distinguished throughout: Saudi government policy, the minister’s documented role, and interpretation by analysts or by the editors.
• Quotations. Quotation marks are used only for words printed in the cited source. Translations are labelled.
• Privacy. Private and family matters are not documented beyond what the public record of his office requires.
• Suitability. The archive avoids graphic imagery and is suitable for students.
• Dates. Current information is dated; historical pages are not presented as current.

Source selection

In order of preference: official Saudi sources; international organisations and partner governments; established news organisations (for example Reuters, AP, Arab News, Asharq Al-Awsat, Al Arabiya, Al Jazeera, BBC); research institutes; reference works. Wikipedia was used only to locate primary sources and is not cited for any claim.

Fact-checking

Names, titles, dates, positions and quotations were cross-checked against at least one primary or two independent sources. Photographs were examined individually and captioned only with what could be confirmed; where an event could not be identified, the caption says so.

What we do not claim

The following circulate online but could not be verified, and are not presented as fact anywhere on this site:

• A birth date of 1 January 1974 (the sourced date is 1 November 1974).
• A postgraduate degree, or schooling in the United States.
• Membership of the Council of Political and Security Affairs, which no official source reviewed confirms.
• A separate “Royal Court adviser” post.
• A King Abdulaziz decoration reportedly conferred in April 2021 (single secondary source; the grade conflicts between sources).
• A personal role in the Beijing agreement with Iran (March 2023) or the defence agreements of 2025, which were concluded by others.

Corrections

Errors will be corrected promptly. Please write, with the page and the source for the correction, to im@digantsharma.com or use the contact form.

Photograph credits

Photographs were supplied for this project. Credits are given where the photographer or agency could be identified; where they could not, the caption says so. Rights remain with their owners. Each photograph is used on one page only.