Saudi royals and skin color of Obama

I was talking a former adviser to the Saudi Ministry of Defense (under Sultan).  He makes a good point: he said that Saudi royals just don't respect Obama because he is black. he said: there is no way they would have boycotted the summit if it was a white president in the White House (even if they had political disagreements with him).  Those grew up in palaces filled with owned slaves and concubines and Saudi official emancipation of slaves was never serious in royal grounds.