'File 19/218 (C 84) Bahrain Succession' [‎81r] (163/210)

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"to Rafaa among "them Shaikh Khalifah bin Salman,
Shaikh Hamad's nephew, son of an older brother, who
was very angry and upset at not having been told the
time and place of the funeral. Hearing that large
crowds had collected at the Muharraq and Manamah
cemeteries I telephoned to the police, from Rafaa,
giving orders that people were to be told that the
funeral had taken place.
On the same night, at about 8 p.m. I took the
document which Shaikh Hamad had written appointing
Shaikh Salman as his successor from the safe custody
of the Eastern Bank and went to see Shaikh Salman at
Rafaa. I had a private conversation with him and
delivered the document which he read. He said he
had heard something about a document being written by
his father but he did not know what it was about.
He then told me that on the previous night Shaikh
Abdullah came to see him alone and had said that if
Shaikh Hamad died Shaikh Salman should succeed him
and he would support Shaikh Salman. Shaikh Salman
said he had at first refused the suggestion but after
discussion he had been prevailed upon to agree on con
dition that all the family supported him. He also
described how after his father's death, at Rumaitha,
Shaikhs Mohomed and Abdullah took him aside and told
him that he should now become Shaikh and that they
would support him, they promised to be loyal to him
and behave towards him in the same way as they had to
his father. They then returned to the other sons
and the relations who were present and Shaikh Mohomed
told the family that Shaikh Salman was now Shaikh and
asked whether anybody had any objection. The other
brothers -