Reform is inevitable in Saudi Arabia. I worked in Riyadh for a while and then Prince Abdullah was my ultimate boss which means I only met him once. In an ultraconservative nation like this, where most everything that is enjoyable is also forbidden and whose major social ill is alcoholism, there have always been two distinctly different societies; one of the very rich and one for everyone else - not unlike most western countries.
In the massive post-world war II era, generations were sent to the United States and Europe for education. The majority of those people returned home.
I have sat in restaurants in Riyadh with various western single women and seen my Saudi co-workers sitting with their wives in western style dress as you would see in any restaurant in California.
Change is coming and Abdullah may just be the one who can pull it off.