King Salman: Saudi Arabia's 84-year-old monarch taken to hospital

Elderly king handed over day-to-day rule in oil-rich Gulf state to son Mohammed bin Salman in 2017

King Salman (right) and his son Mohammed bin Salman (left) on a poster in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (AP)

The king of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz, has been taken to hospital suffering from an inflammation of the gall bladder.

The 84-year-old is undergoing checks by doctors at a hospital in the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, the state-run news agency SPA reported. No further details of his condition have been released so far.

According to the NHS, inflammation of the gall bladder, also known as acute cholecystitis, is normally caused by a gallstone blocking the gall bladder’s main opening and can be treated by rest, intravenous fluids and antibiotics.

King Salman is the last son of the founder of Saudi Arabia, Ibn Saud, to hold the throne of the kingdom founded in 1932.

The health of the elderly monarch is of international concern due to the absolute power he can wield over Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s largest oil producers.

Although King Salman is effectively an absolute monarch, de facto day to day authority is believed to be vested in his son and heir, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The energetic 34-year-old, who will become the first of a new generation of Saudi rulers after a string of elderly sons of Ibn Saud, has sought to revitalise the kingdom since he assumed de facto rule in 2017.

He has liberalised some of Saudi Arabia’s notoriously ultra-strict religious laws and allowed women to drive for the first time. He has also tried to shake up the nation’s economy and reduce its dependence on oil revenues.

More controversially, Mohammed bin Salman spearheaded an anti-corruption drive which has seen dozens of members of the sprawling royal family and top business figures purged from power.

He has also intensified Saudi Arabia’s brutal intervention in the Yemeni civil war and in 2018 is believed to have been behind the assassination of the dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the country’s consulate in Istanbul.

King Salman has not been seen in public for months during the coronavirus pandemic, but has appeared in state-run media images leading virtual cabinet meetings and phone calls with other world leaders.

Iraq’s new prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, has postponed his first visit to the kingdom which was due this week after hearing of the king’s hospitalisation, the Saudi foreign minister has said.