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King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was discharged today from a New York hospital in "good health", after undergoing two operations, which intensifed speculation about the sensitive issue of succession in the conservative kingdom.
Abdullah, 86, is to stay at his US residence to recuperate and there was no indication in a statement by the royal palace when he would return home.
Characteristically, the king's discharge from hospital made headlines in Saudi state media, where he is always referred to by his formal title as "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques." TV pictures showed him walking with apparent difficulty.
But the recent release of details about his health has been seen as a rare example of transparency – though it may indicate that his condition is in fact worse than officially stated.
Last month the king had surgery for a slipped disc and a blood clot affecting his back followed by a second operation to stabilise some of his vertebrae.
Before leaving Riyadh Abdullah handed over power to his half-brother Crown Prince Sultan, the defence minister, who is 85 and also ill – probably with cancer – and has been spending long periods at his residence in Agadir, Morocco.
The advanced age and poor health of both men have focused attention on the succession, which still passes from one ageing son of the country's founder, Abdelaziz Ibn Saud, to another.
Change is supposed to depend on the allegiance council, made up of the sons and grandsons of Abdelaziz, who will vote to choose future crown princes. But its mandate is not due to begin until after the reigns of Abdullah and Sultan.
Last year's appointment of Abdullah's half-brother, the interior minister Prince Naif, 76, as second deputy prime minister– because of Sultan's long absences abroad – has muddied the waters. "Despite rumoured tensions between the two [Abdullah and Naif] they have collaborated effectively to combat the domestic insurgency mounted by al-Qaida and strengthen Saudi Arabia's counter-terrorism partnership with the US," according to a US diplomatic cable written at the time and released by WikiLeaks. "The Saudi government's strong commitment to fighting terrorism make the interior minister an obvious choice to serve as caretaker while the crown prince recovers and the king travels abroad."
The Saudi succession is of enormous interest to the US and other western countries, given market sensitivities and the fact that the kingdom controls more than a fifth of the world's crude oil reserves.
Abdullah's health has already generated changes that were intended to reassure but may instead have fuelled uncertainty. Before leaving for the US he handed over command of the 100,000-strong national guard to his son Prince Mitab, giving him a ministerial position and perhaps signalling the start of the transfer of power to the next generation.
In spite of the role played by the allegiance council, "room for jostling and divisiveness within the house of Saud remains," the International Institute of Strategic Studies commented in a recent study. "The question is at what point the succession will go to the next generation in the Al Saud clan, 19 of whom sit on the council, and when the major ministerial fiefdoms will devolve to the sons of the princes who now control them."
Prince Naif – whose son Muhammad is the powerful deputy minister of interior – led the Saudi delegation to a Gulf summit in Abu Dhabi earlier this month, a move which was taken as another sign of his pre-eminence in the succession stakes.
For ordinary Saudis, the succession can be a dangerous topic. Muhammad al-Abd-al-Karim, an academic and legal expert, was detained earlier this month after publishing a Facebook article that broke taboos by discussing possible royal infighting over Abdullah's heir. He also criticised government corruption and money spent on US-manufactured weapons.
Elaph, an online news site, was blocked recently because of reports about the rising star of Naif while the king was still in hospital in New York.
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