On June 17, the Facebook page called Georgian Best News spread a claim that a Saudi Arabian prince had woken up from a 20-year coma. The post included a video of a young man who was allegedly the Saudi prince.
The claim that a Saudi prince woke up after 20 years in a coma is false. In the first frame of the video circulating on social media, Prince Mohammed bin Khalid bin Talal is visible, who was also involved in a car accident several years ago. The remaining frames do show the “Sleeping Prince” but there is no verified information confirming that he has come out of the coma.
The claim that Prince Al-Waleed bin Khaled bin Talal of Saudi Arabia has emerged from his 20-year coma is not confirmed by open or reliable sources. The man in the first frame of the circulated video is not Prince Al-Waleed bin Khaled bin Talal but rather his brother, Mohammed bin Khalid bin Talal, who was also involved in a car accident in 2020 but survived. The photo featured in the video was published by his uncle, Prince Mashour bin Talal, who is seen standing behind Mohammed bin Talal in the picture.
Al-Waleed bin Khaled bin Talal is known as the “Sleeping Prince.” He has been in a coma since 2005. The young prince was involved in a car accident while studying at a military college in the United Kingdom. Since then, he has been connected to a ventilator. Although the prince remains in a critical state, his family has refused to disconnect him from life support.
On April 19, 2025, the prince turned 36. To mark his birthday, his relative Princess Rima bin Talal posted a congratulatory message on X, along with a collage of various photos of the prince.
Information about the prince’s alleged awakening also spread on X. In a video accompanying photos of the prince, a man is seen greeting visitors in a hospital room. However, the man is not the prince but rather well-known rally champion and businessman Yazeed Mohamed Al-Rajhi, who was injured during the rally in Jordan in May 2025.
In other scenes from the video shared by the Georgian-language page, Prince Al-Waleed bin Khalid bin Talal is indeed shown, but the claim that he has come out of the coma is not supported by any official or reliable sources.
The claim about Prince Al-Waleed bin Khaled bin Talal’s recovery has been fact-checked and debunked by African-based Factcheck Africa and Indian outlets India TV News and Times of India.
Prepared by Lizi Chachiashvili and Tina Tvauri
Myth Detector Lab
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