Saudi Arabia's King Fahd had suffered a stroke in 1995 and had handed over control of the government to his half brother Crown Prince Abdullah on January 1, 1996.

Less than two months later, Fahd had returned to power, though Abdullah continued to handle the country's day-to-day affairs.

The ailing Fahd, eighty in 2003, lives more or less permanently in the Andalusian beach town of Marbella Spain, where his family reportedly spends an average five million dollars a day in the shops.