Prince William Visits Saudi Arabia for Delicate Diplomacy
The heir to the British throne will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as Britain and Saudi Arabia look to strengthen ties.

Prince William, left, meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and then-Prince Charles in London in 2018. William’s trip signals the growing diplomatic role he is playing for Britain and the royal family.Credit…Yui Mok/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Prince William traveled to Saudi Arabia on Monday for his first diplomatic trip to the country, in a visit intended to strengthen relations between Britain and the Arab kingdom.

The trip came at the request of the British government, according to Kensington Palace, a sign of Britain’s confidence that a visit from the heir to the throne will help burnish ties with Saudi Arabia, seen as a strategically important partner.

William met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the country, who was briefly an international pariah after the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

In recent years, the crown prince has cultivated business and diplomatic ties around the world, refurbishing his image and becoming a major geopolitical power player.

William’s visit to the country, which is led by an authoritarian monarchy with a poor human rights record, will test his diplomatic skills.

It also signals the increasingly prominent public role that the prince has played for his family following the death of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and the ascension of his father, King Charles III, to the throne.

William, who is widely known internationally, is popular with the British public, and has worked to burnish an image of a global statesman, said Ed Owens, a royal historian and expert on the British royal family.

Deploying William to court the Saudis is the British government’s latest use of the royal family to expand bilateral relationships, Mr. Owens said.

“There’s a sense that if the two men can strike up a positive diplomatic rapport, this could lead to a meaningful future relationship between the countries,” he said, adding that royal family members are useful to “build enduring connections that last beyond the short-term nature of the election cycle.”

Royals can sometimes more easily navigate sensitive topics or strained relationships because they do not face the same expectations and obligations as elected leaders, he said.

“These are issues that the royal entourage can carefully work around, rather than have to work through in a political capacity,” Mr. Owens said.

The trip comes as the royal family has come under renewed scrutiny over ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender and financier. The latest tranche of documents released by the Department of Justice showed that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, maintained close relations with Mr. Epstein even after he was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008.

On Monday, the Thames Valley Police department said it was assessing a report that Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor, while serving as a trade envoy, had potentially shared confidential information with Mr. Epstein.

Buckingham Palace, which represents King Charles III, issued a statement that while the claims were for Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor to address, “if we are approached by Thames Valley Police we stand ready to support them as you would expect.”

Ahead of the visit to Saudi Arabia, William and his wife, Catherine, issued their first statement on the latest revelations related to Mr. Epstein. “The Prince and Princess of Wales have been deeply concerned by the continued revelations,” a Kensington Palace spokesman said. “Their thoughts remain focused on the victims.”

William and his father met the Saudi crown prince in 2018 in London, before Mr. Khashoggi was assassinated.

In a statement, Kensington Palace said the visit would “celebrate growing trade, energy and investment ties, and as the two nations approach a century of diplomatic relations.”

William will travel to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of At-Turaif, in Diriyah, the ancestral home of the Saudi royal family, where the crown prince will give him a private tour. The site is a centerpiece of a $63 billion project set to transform the historic town into a tourism and cultural destination.

Megan Specia reports on Britain, Ireland and the Ukraine war for The Times. She is based in London.