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Only the Holy Know. From that point on, solaced by his favorite wife, Queen Um Shagran, he settled into a remarkably sedate routine. A Moslem teetotaler and nonsmoker for many years, he made a point of rising early, spending some time at prayer and then eating a frugal breakfast of milk, toast and honey. Next came audiences in the throne room that he had had constructed in the hotel, followed by a minuscule lunch, a nap, and a relaxing hour or two with his daughters and their children. Dinner usually consisted of a glass of milk, and bedtime was before 11 p.m. In the past year, Saud kept two full-time doctors by his side; he suffered from assorted ills, including kidney and liver trouble, serious rheumatism and severely impaired eyesight, which forced him to wear dark glasses. Early in February, he had a mild heart attack, and his death was caused by a second such seizure.
In the austere tradition of the Wahhabi sect to which he belonged, Saud's burial was simple. His body, wrapped in a Saudi flag, was flown in a special aircraft to Riyadh, and after brief ceremonies was buried somewhere in the capital. In keeping with tradition, there is no gravestone. Only a small group of holy men know the last resting place of one of the world's wealthiest men.