When the prince of Egypt, for just his own sense of rage and righteousness, killed a taskmaster and was banished for taking the side of the slaves, only then did his real origin become clear to those around him.

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Last month, after Prince Saud and the foreign ministers of Jordan and Egypt met with Bush at the White House, the prince tried to put the best face on things, saying he was "much impressed" by Bush's commitment to a three-year timetable for a Palestinian state and an eventual end to the Israeli occupation.

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In one incident, officials in the Carter administration discovered the prince had deliberately mistranslated an important letter from the then Saudi ruler, King Fahd, to President Sadat of Egypt, to make it sound more conciliatory. (This was at a time when Sadat was being vilified in the Arab world for signing the Camp David peace accords with Israel.) Freelancing seemed to come naturally to the prince.

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