The conflicts that come with having royal powers are things of legend. One only need to read up on history of royal monarchies of the past to see that this is true. A more modernized version comes with a similar conflict within the walls of the House Of Saud. Recently, the extent that the palace felt they had to go to in order to prevent retaliation from a person with a great royal destiny. For this reason, the events which took place last month had been viewed by some as a coup on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef (MbN) who also acted as the interior minister.

Addicted to painkillers from assassination attempt

It's been known that up until June 20, MbN was considered to be the next in line to the throne before he was asked by King Salman bin Abdulaziz to step down and was promptly replaced by Mohammed Bin Salman (MbS). The reason given -- according to Saudi officials -- was because he failed to get help for his addiction to pain killers. While Reuters said in their article: "Addiction and intrigue: inside the Saudi palace coup", that they could not verify that claim, they did say that a source close to bin Nayef verified that he had health issues.

Reuters reported that that those sources revealed that MbN had to rely on morphine for pain relief. In 2009, a suicide bomber who had an explosive device surgically implanted in his rectum detonated it when he was near MbN.

The bomber's body absorbed the blast only injuring the prince. Since then Nayef had apparently been holding shrapnel in his body that could not be removed. Reuters said that they were unable to verify one source's claims that MbN had been treated at clinics in Switzerland over the years.

Measures taken to prevent act of revenge

On June 20, MnB was scheduled to be part of a Political and Security Council meeting. Hours before it started, MbS contacted MbN and said that the King wanted to see him. It was during that meeting that he was told by the King to step down. After this, the Allegiance Council was informed by letter saying that MnB had a medical condition and that it was a dangerous situation.

They were also notified at the time that the King had asked him to step down and that he would be replaced by MbS.

At the time that the letter was read to the Allegiance Council over the phone, MbN had reportedly placed in a room where he ended up staying in overnight. He was essentially isolated from everyone else having his smart phone removed and not having any contact with his aides. His bodyguards were also replaced. This is specifically because in many incidents where former princes retaliate, the loyalty of their guards could cause problems for the palace should a prince want to take revenge.

At the same time that the letter had been read to the council, envoys were sent to them in order to get signatures from all 34 council members, three who refused to sign.

In the process they were also recorded as showing their support for his removal. The recordings were played back to MbN to prevent him from resisting. It was reported that by dawn he had given up. He then reportedly signed a document where he agreed to step down and was released. Right after this, he was seen on camera embracing the new heir to the throne, Mohammed bin Salman.
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