Al Waleed was born in April 1990 as the son of Prince Khaled bin Talal and Princess Reema bint Talal, two prominent members of the Saudi royal family. He fell into a coma in 2005 after a serious car accident in London, where he was attending a military school. The collision caused a brain hemorrhage, and since then he had remained under constant medical care, never waking from unconsciousness despite occasional small movements that gave the family brief hope.
He was the one driving during the accident, and two friends traveling with him walked away from the crash almost unharmed; Al Waleed himself was thrown out of the vehicle through the sunroof.
Faith to the End
For years, the fate of the „Sleeping Prince” was followed by millions of people in the Middle East and beyond. The family long refused to make a decision to disconnect him from life-support equipment, emphasizing their devotion to religion and therefore maintaining that the moment of death and life belongs to God.
His father, Prince Khaled bin Talal, repeatedly stressed that he did not intend to give up caring for his son, saying among other things: „Who am I to take his life. If God wanted him to die, He would do it without my help or the help of a doctor”.
In recent years, false reports of the prince’s supposed awakening also emerged, which were clearly denied. Films and photographs showed him connected to medical devices, while recordings suggesting he had woken up involved people other than Al Waleed himself.
