Prince William walks a tightrope in Saudi Arabia
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Prince William is making his first visit to Saudi Arabia this week to celebrate “growing trade, energy and investment ties” between the kingdom and the UK. But with a number of sensitive issues on the table – from defence and intelligence sharing to Saudi Arabia’s poor human rights record – how will the prince walk the diplomatic tightrope? Should the UK be pursuing a closer relationship with the kingdom at all?
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Guests:
- Roya Nikkhah, royal editor, The Sunday Times.
- Sir William Patey, former UK Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Host: Luke Jones.
Producers: Julia Webster, Micaela Arneson.
We want to hear from you - email: thestory@thetimes.com
Read more: Prince William to visit Saudi Arabia as diplomatic ‘secret weapon’
Further listening: Travelling with the Duchess in a war zone
Clips: NBC, BBC, HM Treasury.
Photo: Dana Chan, Getty Images.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is The Story. I'm Luke Jones. |
| 0:12.4 | Prince William is off to Saudi Arabia, a well-beaten desert path for British royals looking to curry favour on behalf of our government. |
| 0:22.4 | The visits can often be fun and games, sword dancers, lavish dinners. |
| 0:28.4 | Do yourself a favour and search online for a picture of then-Prince-Charles in full |
| 0:33.2 | Arabian dress complete with golden sword, dagger and an ammunition belt. |
| 0:41.8 | But is the task harder for Prince William in 26? What with the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, |
| 0:49.6 | still accused of overseeing the murder of a journalist? |
| 0:52.2 | The United Nations has just issued its report on the murder of Jamal Hashoggi. |
| 0:57.5 | The Saudi journalist was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October last year. |
| 1:02.3 | The CIA and some Western countries believe Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, |
| 1:07.1 | Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, ordered the killing. |
| 1:10.6 | Saudi officials have always denied this. |
| 1:15.3 | For all its recent modernising, |
| 1:17.4 | Saudi Arabia is still a country with a dismal human rights record. |
| 1:21.7 | It's not a place you'd want to stand trial. |
| 1:23.7 | They still execute people for being gay, for protesting. |
| 1:29.3 | But they have a lot of money. |
| 1:36.3 | Huge opportunities for the UK and for Saudi Arabia and the other GCC countries to access UK capital markets, to have our services, businesses, whether it's insurance, financial services, |
| 1:42.3 | or indeed education and health. |
| 1:49.0 | Our government wants to do more business with them, but at what moral cost? |
| 1:52.2 | And is Prince William the one to walk this tightrope? The story today. Prince William, diplomatic secret weapon. |
| 2:15.7 | Overseas royal visits do tend to be quite a song and dance. |
... |
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