Passersby were astounded Sunday night when 11 Mercedes SUVs with flashing lights pulled up to Primola on Second Avenue.
Chauffeurs in dark blue suits opened the doors, and out came 40 Saudi Arabians — a group said to include a sister of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziīz.
“They dined on calamari, veal, pasta . . . no alcohol. They tipped the waiters very generously, and they were very polite and friendly to the others guests,” said one source.
The host was Khalid al-Tuwaijri, one of Abdullah’s closest advisers and a man sometimes called “the uncrowned king.”
“Each day, Khalid receives or discerns instructions from his monarch,” Foreign Policy magazine reported two years ago. Khalid, the son of the late Abdul Aziz al-Tuwaijri, has been called the Cardinal Richelieu of the old king.
The group is said to be in New York for a month before heading to London for a month.