Saudi prince speaks on Thursday at BYU

PROVO — Prince Turki Al-Faisal, former Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, will discuss "Balance in the Middle East Community" at a Middle East Studies Lecture on Thursday at 11 a.m. in the Joseph Smith Building Auditorium on the Brigham Young University campus.

The eighth and youngest son of the late Saudi King Faisal, Prince Turki became ambassador in 2005 after having served since 2002 as ambassador to the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. He resigned in December 2006, citing a desire to spend more time with his family.

He also served as director general of the General Intelligence Directorate, the kingdom's main foreign intelligence service, from 1977 to 2001 following a four-year appointment as an adviser in the Saudi Royal Court.

He is one of the founders of the King Faisal Foundation and chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh. He is also chairman of the board of the Prince Charles Visual Islamic and Traditional Arts Center as well as the co-chairman of the C100 Group, which has been affiliated with the World Economic Forum since 2003.

In 1963, Prince Turki graduated from the Lawrenceville School, a four-year coeducational school in New Jersey, and subsequently received an undergraduate degree at Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1968.

The lecture is free and open to the public.