Saudi king leaves France 'without paying €3.7m medical bills'

By Gavin Mortimer

As holidays go, King Salman of Saudi Arabia has probably enjoyed more harmonious breaks than the eight days he's just spent on the French Riviera. His Royal Highness had intended to enjoy three weeks of Mediterranean sun, sea and sand, but he cut short his sojourn after enraging the locals.

More than 150,000 people signed a petition protesting at the decision by the local council to seal off a public beach near the monarch's villa, and that prompted the king to move his vast 1000-strong entourage to Morocco.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

A source close to the king insisted his flight from France was part of his holiday itinerary, so it will be interesting to see how he spins his way of his latest PR disaster.

On Monday evening Patrick Pelloux, one of France's best known doctors, tweeted to his thousands of followers: "Before leaving the king of Saudi Arabia could have paid his bill of €3.7m to the Paris hospitals. A polite gesture!"

By Tuesday morning Pelloux's message had been retweeted more than 1,000 times and the French newspapers had picked up the story. Le Parisien reported that the Assistance publique – Hopitaux de Paris (AP-HP), the city's public hospital system, had confirmed to them the sum. The paper added that the bill was not run up by King Salman, but by people working for the Saudi kingdom. "The concern is not just the privatization of a small beach," explained Pelloux, a regular contributor to the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo. "If Barack Obama had come, we would have privatized the Mediterranean… the real problem is the wealthy heads of state [and] Embassy staff come to be treated in France then leave their bills behind."

Accusing France of being "too nice with the kings and their diplomats," Pelloux told Le Parisien the State was particularly lax with countries with whom they sign "big armament contracts". In June Paris and Riyad signed arms deals totalling $12 billion, with Saudi Arabia also planning "to sign off on a feasibility study for the construction of two nuclear reactors in the kingdom with France."

Saudi Arabia isn't the only country, however, that owes AP-HP money with the cumulative debt at the end of 2014 standing at €118.6m. Officials from Algeria owe the hospitals most, €31.6m, while their North African neighbours Morocco are in the red to the tune of €11m. Even the USA has been taking advantage of the Paris medical system, running up debts of €5.7m.

Saudi king leaves France after beach closure uproar

03 August

King Salman of Saudi Arabia has cut short his French Riviera holiday after the closure of a beach for his security caused an outcry.

The Saudi king left just eight days into what was intended to be a three-week stay, flying on to Morocco with his colossal entourage, the BBC reports.

The public beach at Vallauris, directly below King Salman's private villa, had been sealed off for the monarch's security. The installation of a temporary lift connecting the beach with the villa had also caused offence.

Critics of the beach closure said it was a breach of French laws on equality. The Guardian says that more than 150,000 people had signed a petition in protest.

A Saudi source insisted the king's departure was part of his holiday programme and not connected to the media coverage the visit had attracted.

The source claimed King Salman's team carefully followed normal procedures and arrangements for high-security visitors, adding that the king respected the French public and hoped to visit to Cannes next year.

Regional official Philippe Castanet told AFP news agency that the beach would reopen to the public on Monday morning, while the lift would be removed in the coming weeks.

In 1949, the luxurious villa was the venue for actress Rita Hayworth's marriage to Prince Aly Khan of Pakistan.

Despite the outcry over his stay, some residents had welcomed the king. Local traders were delighted by the presence of his wealthy, 1,000-strong entourage.