482 consecutive days have passed since King Salman bin Abdulaziz arrived at Saud's palace in the desert city of Neom in the northwest of the kingdom, raising concerns about his health, the Business Insider reports.

Salman, 85, became king in 2015 after the death of his half-brother, King Abdullah, and rumors of his poor health have haunted him ever since.

An insider says, quoting a "number of experts," that he (King Salman) suffers from pre-dementia symptoms, while his true health condition is a well-kept secret.

In 2015, Saudi royal court lawyers told the Washington Post that the king "certainly does not suffer from dementia or any other type of mental disability" in response to what the newspaper claimed.

A month after undergoing minor gallbladder surgery, in July 2020, the official Saudi press agency (SPA) reported on August 12, 2020 that King Salman had arrived at Neom, an area recently developed in the Red Sea, "where he will spend time resting and recovering."

At the time, Saudi Arabia was just experiencing the peak of COVID-19 proliferation in its territory. King Salman has been at at the palace ever since, conducting cabinet meetings through video conferencing.

The most recent meeting between them took place on Tuesday and dealt with the results of the French president's visit to the kingdom, developments in dealing with the corona plague and the Houthi missiles recently aimed at Saudi Arabia.

"He's at Neom because it's actually safer, because it restricts access. They're very eager for him to go on with his life," Bernard Heikel, a leading expert on Saudi politics at Princeton University, told Insider.

Despite King Salman's 'isolation', as "Insider" describes it, he gets the best medical care one can buy. He is under the supervision of more than a dozen medical specialists from the Cleveland Clinic, a man familiar with the subject told the newspaper.

The hospital, a leading U.S. medical provider, has treated many of the global elite since the 1980s, including former President Donald Trump and many members of the Saudi royal family.

Haikel said speculation that King Salman might die soon is growing again, adding: "There are always rumors at the end of the year."

The average reader is left to wonder whether a "soft" coup has been made in Saudi Arabia?