The Sleeping Prince: 13 interesting facts revealed by his father in an interview

Saudi Arabia’s Sleeping Prince, whose real name is Prince is Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, was born in 1987 and has been in a coma since 2005 as a result of a catastrophic car accident in London.

The Sleeping Prince’s situation has caught the attention of people in the Arab world and globally, waiting to learn a positive update on his health condition, especially considering that he’s been in a coma since 18 years ago.

Here are 13 facts you didn’t know about the Sleeping Prince, including the accident and health developments, revealed by his father Prince Khalid bin Talal in an interview he underwent in 2017 with Saudi talk show, Al-Ma’azzeb.

13 facts about the Sleeping Prince

1- On the day of the accident, the Sleeping Prince’s father, Prince Khalid bin Talal, had a feeling that something wrong was going to happen and refused to let his son go out that night, but the Sleeping prince with his two friends convinced Prince Khalid bin Talal, and eventually he agreed and gave his son the permission to go out. Prince Khalid bin Talal called that “the father’s gut feeling”.

2- On the night of the accident, the Sleeping Prince’s father, Prince Khalid bin Talal was having dinner with Abdullah bin Yahya Al-Muallami, a Saudi diplomat who served as the Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations in New York from 2011 until 2022.

3- Accident details: It happened in London in 2005, where the Sleeping Prince was attending military school. When the car crashed, The Sleeping Prince and his two friends were thrown out from the roof hatch.

4- Immediately following the accident, the Sleeping Prince woke up and said: “How are my friends doing?” and then he fell into the lengthy coma. Meanwhile, his friends’ condition was ok after the accident.

5- The Sleeping Prince’s father is grateful that his son was the one driving the car and took the hit and not any of his friends, because he couldn’t live with guilt of his son causing hurt to his son’s friends and their families.

5- The Sleeping Prince’s father lived with his son in the hospital for 2 years, and then for 4 years afterwards. His mother lived with him for 2.5 years. During that period they couldn’t go home without their son.

6- American and Saudi surgeons said that the prince would die and his body would decompose within 72 hours to a week after he underwent surgery after the accident.

7- Following doctors statements that The Sleeping Prince wouldn’t make it, his father had doubts of what to do, whether he would let his son stay connected to medical equipment or let him go. Then he had a wake up moment when he asked himself: “Who am I to take away his life. If God intended to have him dead, he would do so without my or the doctor’s help. And this has shaken me.”

8- During the first 18 months, there were no movements, only involuntary motions from the bone marrow and spinal cord.

9- Strange things were happening to him too: if specific sheikhs read the Qur’an to him, his blood pressure would rise.

10- After the first 18 months, The Sleeping Prince started to breath on his own for 3 months without the assistance of mechanical ventilator.

11- After that, the Sleeping Prince started to respond to being touched and spoken to, not with everyone but to certain people, such as some doctors, nurses, and family members.

12- Following the above incidents, doctors were convinced that something unusual was happening to the Sleeping Prince, such as why he was getting older, gaining weight and responding to specific stimulants.

13- The Sleeping Prince’s father tells the following funny story: “One time I bit him and he moved. So I went to my uncle Sultan and told him of what happened. He asked me what did you do next, I told him nothing. He said go call the doctor and do it again in front of him.”