The King of Saudi Arabia was the Chief Guest at this year’s Republic Day celebrations. The Indian nation conferred upon the Saudi monarch this significant honour, an honour that King Abdallah bin Aziz accepted gracefully. By accepting the invitation, the King of Saudi Arabia, the custodian of Islam’s two holiest shrines, sent the unmistakable signal that he wanted to re-define Indo-Saudi relations; perhaps. There was no doubt that by agreeing to grace India’s Republic Day celebrations the Saudi King was breaking new ground in his country’s foreign policy not the least because this was the first visit by a Saudi King to India since 1955. So, what caused this dramatic change?