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Honorary Degree Recipient
His Royal Highness
Prince Bandar Ibn Sultan Ibn Abdulaziz
Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United States
Doctor of LawsBiographical Note
His Royal Highness Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz is the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United States of America.
Prince Bandar was born in Saudi Arabia on March 2, 1949, at Taif, the summer capital of the Kingdom, the son of His Royal Highness Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, the Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense and Aviation. He is married to Princess Haifa Bint Faisal, and they have four sons and four daughters. Prince Bandar was appointed Ambassador to the United States by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, as his representative in Washington on September 27, 1983. He is currently Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in the United States. On August 7, 1995, he was promoted to the rank of Minister.
Prince Bandar graduated from the British Royal Air Force College at Cranwell, England in 1968 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF). He received pilot training in the United Kingdom and the United States, and has flown numerous fighter aircraft, including the JP 3-4, T-38, T-33. F-5, F-53/55, and the F-102. During his seventeen-year military career, he attained the rank of lieutenant colonel, commanded fighter squadrons at three RSAF bases, and undertook program management responsibilities in the major RSAF modernization project, Peace Hawk. In addition, Prince Bandar carried out special assignments in Washington, D.C., during the debates between the U.S. administration and the Congress concerning the sale to Saudi Arabia of F-15s in 1978 and of F-3 AWACs in 1981. In 1982, he was assigned to Washington, D.C. as the Kingdom’s defense attaché.
Prince Bandar completed his post-graduate work in several U.S. professional military schools, including staff courses with the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, and with the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. He received his Master’s degree in international public policy from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Washington, D.C., in 1980.
As special envoy for the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz, Prince Bandar negotiated the ceasefire in the Lebanese civil war in 1983. He was the Saudi delegate within the Gulf Cooperation Council observing the 1991 Madrid Peace Talks. In addition, Prince Bandar has been a regular member of the Kingdom’s delegation to the United Nations General Assembly since 1984. He has been awarded many medals and decorations, including the Hawk Flying Medal of Aviation, the King Faisal Medal, and the King Abdul Aziz Sash, as well as many honors from other nations.
