Saudi prince died at London hotel after cocktail of party drugs

Saudi prince died after consuming a fatal combination of alcohol, party drugs and prescription medication in a luxury London hotel. Prince Abdullah bin Fahad bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Jalawi al Saud was almost three times the drink drive limit and had mixed alcohol with the party drug GHB. He was found dead in his bathroom at the Marriott Hotel in Kensington, West London, on November 25 last year.An inquest at Inner West London Coroner’s Court heard that the 29-year-old had checked in on November 19 for a one-week stay. He was last seen on CCTV the evening before his death going outside to smoke a cigarette.
According to evidence presented before Inner West London Coroner's Court, Prince Abdullah had checked into the euro 600-a-night hotel on November 19 for what was intended to be a week-long stay. He was last seen alive on CCTV the evening before his death when he stepped outside for a cigarette. The following day, a hotel cleaner entered his fifth-floor room and discovered him lying fully clothed on the bathroom floor. Hotel staff alerted emergency services, but paramedics were unable to revive him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
A toxicology report heard that the young royal had a blood ethanol concentration of 222mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, well above the drink-drive limit of 80mg and in a range where it could possibly cause coma. He also had potentially fatal levels of the so-called ‘party drug’ Gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) as well as traces of cannabis, the anti-anxiety medication alprazolam, better known as Xanax, in a recreational dose and other anti-anxiety medicines in therapeutic doses.Experts told the court that the alcohol level alone could have induced a coma.
The court was told that Prince Abdullah had struggled with alcohol misuse and prescription drug dependence before his death. He was admitted to the Priory Clinic in Roehampton in August 2025, where he underwent detoxification for alcohol, benzodiazepines and pregabalin. Consultant psychiatrist Dr Victoria Chamorro said the prince had engaged positively with treatment, displayed symptoms of anxiety and low mood on admission, and completed the detox programme without physical complications. Although he later missed scheduled follow-up appointments, clinicians did not consider him to be at risk of self-harm when he was discharged.
A post-mortem found that the prince, who was descended from the great-great-grandfather of King Salman of Saudi Arabia, did not have any acute or chronic illnesses, but had suffered cardiac arrest as a result of the combination of drugs and alcohol. Assistant Coroner Jean Harkin said that she did not believe he had intended to take his life, noting that reports from both the Priory and Rainford Hall said there had been no concerns, that he had not told anyone that he wanted to kill himself, and there was no note in his room. There was also no evidence of third party involvement, with CCTV clearly showing him alone the night before his death.