Abdulaziz ibn Saud and Sir Percy Cox signed the Treaty of Darin at Darin (Tarut Island), formalizing a wartime relationship with Britain and giving Ibn Saud’s polity international standing while tying it to British strategic interests in the Gulf.
Following the Darin arrangement, Britain provided financial subsidies and arms to Ibn Saud during World War I and its aftermath, strengthening his capacity to consolidate control in central and eastern Arabia while Britain sought stability near its Gulf protectorates.
At Uqair, Sir Percy Cox and Ibn Saud concluded the Uqair Protocol, defining boundaries between Mandatory Iraq, Nejd, and Kuwait, and creating Saudi–Iraqi and Saudi–Kuwaiti neutral zones—an important step in Britain’s regional boundary-making and in delimiting Ibn Saud’s recognized sphere.
British-sponsored talks in Kuwait aimed to regulate raids and clarify frontiers among Nejd and neighboring British-protected territories; the failure to reach a durable settlement left border questions unresolved and pushed Britain toward later bilateral agreements.
A British mission led by Sir Gilbert Clayton met Ibn Saud’s representatives at Bahra, focusing on suppressing cross-border raids and settling the Transjordan–Nejd frontier—preparing the ground for formal agreements the following month.
Britain and Ibn Saud signed the Hadda Agreement, establishing a border between Transjordan (under British mandate influence) and Ibn Saud’s territory and helping Britain manage security on the mandate’s southern frontier.
Ibn Saud’s forces completed the conquest of the Hejaz by late 1925, capturing key cities and ending Hashemite rule; this transformed Britain’s diplomatic calculus, as London now had to accommodate Ibn Saud as the dominant power across most of the peninsula.
After consolidating control in western Arabia, Abdulaziz ibn Saud was proclaimed King of the Hejaz, creating a dual polity (Hejaz and Nejd) that Britain would later recognize as independent under treaty.
The Treaty of Jeddah—signed by Sir Gilbert Clayton for the UK and Prince Faisal (for Ibn Saud’s kingdom)—ended the Darin-era protectorate framework and had Britain recognize the independence and sovereignty of the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd, while Ibn Saud committed to restrain attacks on neighboring British protectorates.
The 1927 treaty framework also addressed the Red Sea slave trade, stipulating cooperation with the British Legation in Jeddah and codifying a role for British officials regarding enslaved persons seeking protection—an issue that became part of routine diplomatic engagement.
As treaty-based relations expanded, Abdulaziz built permanent foreign-policy institutions; Saudi Arabia dates its modern foreign-affairs ministry to late 1930, with Prince Faisal playing a central role in managing external relations in this period.
King Abdulaziz issued Royal Decree No. 2716 ordering that the state known as the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd and its annexes be renamed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, aligning state formation with the diplomatic identity recognized under earlier treaties.
Prince Faisal, acting as viceroy in the Hejaz, publicly announced the unification and renaming of the state at Al Hamidiyah Palace in Mecca—marking the culmination of the 1915–1932 treaty-and-diplomacy arc with Britain into a consolidated kingdom.
British–Saudi treaties and diplomatic relations (1915–1932)
