Marbella mourns King Fahd's death

By Danny Wood
BBC News, Marbella

King Fahd's investment in the area will be hard to match

The Spanish resort of Marbella is holding three days of mourning to mark the death of Saudi King Fahd.

For many years the Saudi ruler was a regular visitor to the southern coast of Spain during summer holidays.

King Fahd was probably the most illustrious person to take up residence on the Spanish coast during the summer.

His death is a big blow to the local economy. The King built his own palace there - a marble and gold copy of the White House in Washington DC.

And not just a palace: the Saudi ruler's Marbella property includes two mosques, a hospital, numerous swimming-pools and several massive villas.

The King would arrive in spectacular fashion with private jets, helicopters, a fleet of Mercedes-Benz cars, several trucks full of personal belongings and van-loads of flowers to fill his palace.

Large donations

Hundreds of local people would form queues at his palace door, hoping to find lucrative employment in the King's service.

King Fahd's palace was a complex of mosques, pools and villas

Apart from hundreds employed as part of the royal entourage, thousands of others benefited indirectly.

At local bars, restaurants, jewellery shops and a sailing club, King Fahd is reported to have spent around $40,000 (32,692 euros or £22,555) per day.

The lavish spending coupled with big donations, put him on very good terms with the local authorities. In 2002, the King contributed nearly $2.5m (2.m euros or £1.4m) towards a low-cost housing project.

The same year, he was spending over $200m (163m euros or £112m) remodelling his Marbella palace. That sort of money is going to be hard for the economy to replace.

To mark his death local leaders have gathered for a minute's silence at the port where the King moored his $1m yacht. Marbella council has declared three days of mourning.