Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has led funeral prayers for his half-brother Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz who died Saturday at age 87, VOA news reports.
Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz, a senior member of the ruling al-Saud family, was a vocal supporter of reforms in the kingdom.
Prince Talal was the son of modern Saudi Arabia’s first ruler, the late King Abdulaziz. He is also the father of billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
He held various senior government offices in the 1950s and ’60s, including that of communications minister and the minister of finance.
According to the Saudi newspaper Arab News, Prince Talal opened the first school for girls in Riyadh in 1957, at a time when girls had no access to formal education. Later in life he was also a strong advocate for women’s right to work outside the home as well as drive.
He lived in exile after leading a group of dissident princes who called for a constitutional monarchy and an end to strict religious influence in the ruling the country.
The group, which became known as the Free Princes Movement, allied himself with then Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser who was an adversary of Riyadh.
Prince Talal was allowed to return to Saudi Arabia in 1964 after he toned down his rhetoric.
Prince Talal served until 2011 as a member of the Allegiance Council, the body responsible for overseeing the royal succession. He quit after questioning its efficacy when a senior prince was appointed to the line of succession without the council being fully consulted.