'File 19/218 (C 84) Bahrain Succession' [‎94r] (189/210)

/ 8*
The members of the family, seeing that Shaikh Salman had the
support of his two ancles (the most inflaentlal and respected
members of the Khallfah family), unanimously signified their
acceptance of Shaikh Salman.
7* In the late afternoon of February 20th MfoBelgrave
Informed me that the Khallfah family had chosen Shaikh Salman
to succeed his father* I did not know at that time what
part Shaikh Abdullah had played In the s election of Shaikh
Salman, nor had I reason to suppose that any of the Khallfah
family knew the contents of Shaikh Hamad's testament appoint
ing Shaikh Salman to succeed him* It seemed to me that
Shaikh Salman had already gone a considerable way to estab
lishing himself In his father's place and that, If the con
tents of Shaikh Hamad t s testament were known. Shaikh Salman 1 s
position would become secure against any possible rival* I
therefore asked lCr»Belgrave to secure Shaikh Hamad's testa
ment from the local branch of the Eastern Bank, where It was
lying In safe custody, and to take It to Shaikh Salman
Immediately* Some difficulty was experienced In obtaining
from the Bank the sealed envelope containing Shaikh Hamad's
testament but eventually Mr•Belgrave secured the envelope
and, having arranged a private interview with Shaikh Salman,
delivered it to h**™ at 8 p»nu Shaikh Salman was both
pleased and relieved to find that his father had appointed
him his successor. He said that neither he nor any other
member of the family had any knowledge of Shaikh Hamad's
testament although one or two people knew that Shaikh Hamad
had on one occasion signed an important document* He said
that he would try to get his two uncles to endorse the
document in token of their acceptance of its contents and
that he would also like it to be signed by the Political
Agent*