--- ---  # King Abdullah's 'Special Relationship' With the U.S.  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jan 23, 2015 12:16 AM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama and Saudi Arabian King Abdullah laugh as they speak to the media after their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, D.C., on June 29, 2010 U.S. President Barack Obama and Saudi Arabian King Abdullah laugh as they speak to the media after their meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, D.C., on June 29, 2010Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jan 23, 2015 12:16 AM UTC Saudi state TV [reported](http://time.com/3679519/saudi-king-abdullah-dies/) Friday morning, local time, that King Abdullah had died at 90\. The monarch’s health was a known concern last April, when TIME took a long look at the state of affairs between Saudi Arabia and the U.S., and the relationship between the King and President Barack Obama. Though interactions between the two nations were showing signs of stress, they still provided a window into the world of the King: --- > “” --- **_Read the full story here, on TIME.com:_** [The King and O](http://time.com/39872/the-king-and-o/) Saudi Arabia King Abdullah: TIME's Take on His Relationship With Obama ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3679502/king-abdullah-obama-relationship/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3679502/king-abdullah-obama-relationship/"},"headline":"King Abdullah's 'Special Relationship' With the U.S.","datePublished":"2015-01-23T00:16:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:49:01.813Z","description":"Read TIME's take on the Saudi monarch's relationship with President Obama","url":"https://time.com/3679502/king-abdullah-obama-relationship/","keywords":["remembrance","Saudi Arabia"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte1d4588a3f8f4590/69877b762dce01565a9dd212/abdullah-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte1d4588a3f8f4590/69877b762dce01565a9dd212/abdullah-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Dead","caption":"Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Dead","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3679502/king-abdullah-obama-relationship/","name":"King Abdullah's 'Special Relationship' With the U.S."}}]}] ```