MAKKAH — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman issued a royal order on Wednesday appointing Prince Muhammad Bin Salman as the new crown prince and relieving Prince Muhammad Bin Naif from his position as crown prince, deputy premier and minister of interior. The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) confirmed that 31 out of 34 members of Saudi Arabia's Allegiance Council chose Prince Muhammad Bin Salman as the crown prince. King Salman has called for a public pledging of allegiance to the Crown Prince in Makkah on Wednesday. Prince Muhammad Bin Salman was also named deputy prime minister, and retains his post as minister of defense. Under the same royal decree, King Salman appointed Prince Abdulaziz Bin Saud Bin Naif as the new interior minister while Ahmed Bin Muhammad Al-Salem was named deputy minister of interior. Dr. Nasser Al-Daoud was relieved of his post and appointed as under-secretary of the interior ministry. King Salman also ordered the appointment of Prince Bandar Bin Khalid Bin Faisal Bin Abdulaziz as an adviser to the Royal Court. In addition, Prince Abdulrahman Al-Rabian was appointed adviser to the Royal Court, Prince Faisal Bin Sattam Bin Abdul Aziz was appointed as the Kingdom's Ambassador to Italy and Prince Khalid Bin Bandar Bin Sultan Bin Abdulaziz as the Kingdom's Ambassador to Germany. Prince Turki Bin Mohammed Bin Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz as adviser to the Royal Court. Faisal Bin Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah Al-Sudairi was appointed as an adviser to the Royal Court. Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Turki Bin Faisal Bin Abdul Aziz was appointed as Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Authority for Sport. A royal order was also issued appointing Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Fahad Bin Turki Bin Abdul Aziz as the Deputy Governor of Al-Jouf region. Prince Bandar Bin Faisal Bin Bandar Bin Abdul Aziz was appointed assistant head of General Intelligence and adviser to the Royal Court. Prince Abdullah Bin Khalid Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz was appointed adviser to the Royal Court, Prince Turki Bin Mohammed Bin Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz as adviser to the Royal Court with the rank of minister and Abdul Rahman Al Rabian as adviser to the Royal Court. The royal order included the following, Chapter 2 of Article 5 of the Basic Law of Government shall be amended to read as follows: "Rule passes to the sons of the founding King, Abdul Aziz Bin Abdul Al-Rahman Al-Faysal Al Saud, and to their children's children. The most upright among them is to receive allegiance in accordance with the principles of the Holy Qur'an and the Tradition of the Venerable Prophet."
