Coll 6/8(1) 'Printed Series: 1929 to 1938.' [‎37r] (78/1062)

as
Saud^Miniater in London) wh^ would nitarXV/^ Wahba> the
accorded to Mr. Rendel. made him dad to S andT?l at ^ y int ™ 3
haps does not trust him fully was tdari +n i + ’ ^ ntl t hat the King, who per-
one of our conversations the Kinrmlnttoned wi^e a h ° liday - Dur “§
he trusted Sheikh Hafiz Wahba Sheikh Yusuf V^s’ as tlle three men
Minister for Foreign Affairs. The Amir ininArl fi! n and hlS SOn Paisa h the
the other two were present throughout From ° groil P on two occasions,
conversations, I amerced to contt
on one or two points, and for this reason nnH niorv n en mia ! , huad Bey
Italian reputation which he has acquired, it is imposXe^to 5 6 belie™ 1
conversations such as we had could have beon n« P fu 6 i b ® lleve that
Fuad Bey been present. a oomd ha ' e b ^n as full and as frank had
, 3 : The lavish hospitality which Ibn Saud always displavs to smests
threatened to assume an alarmingly public character in Jedda We were
embarrassed to discover that not only were dinners to Mr. Rendel to be given
by the King and the Amir Faisal-festivities which might be taken as a rea
sonable return for hospitality enjoyed by the Amirs Saud and Faisal in Engi
iand-but a dinner was to be given by Sheikh Abdullah Sulaiman, the Minister
of Finance. At our request the third dinner was cancelled, but it was re
placed by a tea-party, which was attended by the King. The nersonnl
character of the party was, however, emphasised by the presence of Mrs
Rendel. The King made a very rare exception to his rule not to receive
Kuropean ladies, and had her placed in the seat of honour on his right.
4. Not only did we endeavour to avoid some of the external sions of an
official visit, but Mr. Rendel was carfeful to explain, both at the beginning of
his visit to Jedda and also jnst before his departure, that his journey was
personal and private. It was undertaken, he explained, in response to the
generous invitation of His Highness the Amir Saud. Nevertheless, he had
taken the opportunity to study carefully on the spot various matters affect
ing Anglo-Saudi relations, in particular the Qatar boundary, and he would
be glad if he could assist in arriving at a settlement of this or of any other
outstanding question.
5. At my urgent request Mr. Rendel took the leading part whenever
there was a question of explaining the point of view of His Majesty’s Govern
ment on matters of importance. This was not only reasonable in that he
was merely going again over ground covered on many occasions with the Saudi
representative in London, but there was the even more cogent reason that
Ibn Saud would certainly expect to hear the views of an official of the Foreign
Office who, to his knowledge, had dealt with Saudi affairs for many years.
I venture to believe that Mr. Rendel’s visit and the conversations to which it
gave rise have been of the greatest value, and will have helped to launch
my personal relations with His Majesty under the happiest auspices. Cer
tainly nothing could have been more cordial, friendly and familiar than the
King’s words and manner, which never changed, however delicate the point
under discussion, and it was interesting to learn from my new Italian col
league, with our interviews fresh in my mind, that he had found the King
extremely guarded, and concluded that he was an extremely clever fellow,
who would never commit himself.
6. I am fully conscious of the danger that excessive cordiality at the
beginning of an acquaintance may lead to disappointment later on. As I
informed the Foreign Office in personal letters soon after my arrival, I found
that the King regarded me, on the strength of quite normal official letters
written by me to King Hussein in 1923-25 and discovered in the Shereefian
archives after the fall of Jedda, as a partisan of Ibn Saud s, and I regretted
this assumption, since the oriental builds far too much upon personalities
and the King might expect to gain impossible favours from His Majesty s
Government through my efforts and might afterwards be more dissatisfied
at failure than if he had never entertained any hope of success. Similarly
there is the danger that he may build too much upon Mr. Rendel s visit, and
may hope to influence His Majesty’s Government in mattes where it is not
possible for them to make concessions or grant favours. Rut it is sufficient