Saudi Royal Family

The House of Saud (Al Saud) is the ruling royal family of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy in the Arabian Peninsula. The dynasty traces its origins to the mid-18th century in the central Arabian town of Diriyah, when Muhammad ibn Saud formed an alliance with the religious reformer Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. The modern Saudi state was founded in 1932 by Abdulaziz ibn Saud (Ibn Saud), and the family has since numbered several thousand members, with a core group holding most of the country's political and economic power.