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Crown Prince Salman is the eldest son of King Hamad, from his first marriage to Sheikha Sabika Bint Ibrahim Al-Khalifa. Born in October 1969, Salman was schooled in Bahrain and then obtained degrees from the American University in Washington DC (BA political science, 1992) and Queen’s College, Cambridge (MPhil history and philosophy of science, 1994). He was appointed crown prince when his father became emir in March 1999.

Israel hosted an unprecedented meeting of four Arab foreign ministers, along with US secretary of state Anthony Blinken and Israeli foreign minister Yair Lapid at a kibbutz in the southern Negev Desert on 28 March. The Arab attendees were Bahrain’s Abdullatif Al-Zayani, Egypt’s Sameh Shoukry, Morocco’s Nasser Bourita and the UAE’s Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (ABZ).

Much recent attention has focused on King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa’s fourth son, Sheikh Nasser Bin Hamad, who – in his mid-30s – is nearly 20 years younger than his half-brother Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad.

The mid-2021 revelations about widespread use of the Pegasus spyware platform, developed by well-connected Israeli company NSO Group, have been followed by claims that Bahrain continues to hack the electronic devices of key opposition and other figures.

With little or no space for opposition politics, Bahraini public life is dominated by the ruling Al-Khalifa family, making dynastic dynamics a key factor in an opaque political environment. Competition between King Hamad’s sons Crown Prince Salman and Sheikh Nasser could shape the island’s future direction. GSN analyses the current balance of power in the ruling family and its relationship to other key GCC leaders

Personally popular with fellow rulers for his relaxed style, but often criticized for flaws in Bahrain’s management and its troubled relations with its majority Shia population, King Hamad Bin Isa Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa has ruled Bahrain for 22 years, first as emir and, since 2002, as its self-declared king.

The long shadow cast by Sheikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa remains a factor (albeit diminishing) in Bahraini political dynamics.

GSN visits the archives and sounds expert opinion to profile senior members of the ruling Al-Khalifa family, focusing on King Hamad Bin Isa, Crown Prince Salman and national security advisor Sheikh Nasser Bin Hamad

The Royal Court announced on 24 March the death of Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, widow of the late Sheikh Isa Bin Rashid Al-Khalifa who died in March 2020 and aunt of King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa.

Prominent royal son Sheikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa was on hand to present the podium prizes to the top three finishers at the Bahrain Grand Prix on 20 March, the first race of the season.

UAE and Saudi foreign policy choices are coming under renewed scrutiny as Washington pushes to encourage the Gulf heavyweights to rethink their links to Russia, particularly over energy policy, and their alignments with other autocrats such as recent visitor to Abu Dhabi Syria’s President Assad. GSN has heard of talks between UAE officials and a key Russian figure in the Ukraine war, Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov, which could raise further important questions about the nature of Abu Dhabi’s involvement.

Amid their growing distance from western powers, Gulf states have continued to try and maintain a neutral stance on the Ukraine crisis. However, a weakened Russia could lead to the GCC powers stepping up their outreach to the pariah state of President Bashar Al-Assad’s Syria. That engagement has been energetically driven by the UAE, whose foreign affairs and international co-operation minister Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan visited the Syrian capital in November for talks with Assad.

King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa was in the UAE in mid-March, following on from his recent trip to Saudi Arabia.

Bahraini Prime Minister and Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa held a number of business meetings while in the United States in early March for the Second US-Bahrain Strategic Dialogue.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces was widely expected, but most Gulf states were slow to make any public statements in response as they sought to avoid taking sides between the US – which remains the region’s most important international player for all its reduced enthusiasm for policing the Gulf – and Russia, which is an important ally in setting oil prices, selling military equipment and providing a model of 21st century autocracy. Amid the muted rhetoric, clear differences have appeared between GCC states.