Lolowah Al Faisal | |||||
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Princess Lolowah at the 2008 World Economic Forum regional meeting in Turkey
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Born | 1948 (age 68–69) | ||||
Spouse | Prince Saud bin Abdul Mohsen Al Saud (Divorced) | ||||
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House | House of Saud | ||||
Father | King Faisal | ||||
Mother | Iffat Al Thunayan | ||||
Religion | Islam |
Full name | |
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Lolowah bint Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud |
Lolowah bint Faisal (Arabic: لولوة الفيصل آل سعود; also spelled Loulwa) (born 1948) is a daughter of King Faisal from his fourth wife, Iffat Al Thunayan, and is considered one of the most publicly visible female members of the Saudi Royal Family. She is the sister of Foreign Minister Prince Saud and former Saudi Ambassador to the United States Prince Turki. She is a prominent activist for women's education and other social issues in Saudi Arabia.
Lolowah bint Faisal was one of nine children from the marriage of King Faisal and Queen Iffat. She was brought up in a palace in Ta’if. Like Faisal's other children, she was educated abroad, and attended high school in Lausanne, Switzerland. She married one of her cousins, but divorced after ten years. She had three children from that first marriage. Her father was assassinated when she was in her twenties by his half-brother's son, Faisal bin Musaid.
Princess Lolowah has dedicated her life to improving the welfare of women in Saudi Arabia, especially in the field of education. She has been a member of the Al Nahdah Philanthropic Society for Women in Riyadh since 1970. From 1990 to 1999, she assisted her mother, Queen Iffat in supervising the Dar Al Hanan School in Jeddah, the first private female high school in Saudi Arabia. Along with her mother and siblings, she helped found Effat College (now Effat University) in 1999. She was involved in all the phases of the college's founding, from raising funds, developing the curriculum, overseeing construction to the hiring of faculty and staff. She currently serves as the university's Vice Chair of the Board of Founders and Board of Trustees, and General Supervisor. She allowed herself to be photographed by Western media for the first time in 2005.