ISTANBUL — Saudi Arabia announced Saturday that Princess Reema bint Bandar al-Saud, a former business executive and philanthropist who lived in the United States for more than two decades, will be the country’s new ambassador to Washington.

She is Saudi Arabia’s first female ambassador. Her appointment was the latest sign of the kingdom’s effort to rehabilitate its image in the United States after U.S. lawmakers censured the Saudi leadership for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, and the arrests and alleged torture of Saudi women’s rights activists.

Reema will replace Khalid bin Salman, who served as ambassador when Khashoggi, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post, was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

Khalid, a younger brother of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was accused of helping to cover up the murder. Another royal decree issued Saturday said Khalid will serve as deputy defense minister.

Reema’s father, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, had the longest tenure of any Saudi ambassador to the United States, serving for 22 years until he retired in 2005. Like her father, Reema was educated in the United States and graduated from George Washington University in 1999, according to the official Saudi news agency.


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