Western diplomats in Riyadh said the prince's return indicate that kingdom, which has no political parties or elected parliament, is trying to prevent a power vacuum and reassure Washington and other allies.
A day before his departure, the king reappointed several officials close to him, including Saudi Arabia's relatively moderate top Islamic scholar and the ambassador to Washington.
Prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi said the court's fourth medical bulletin in little more than a week showed the desert kingdom, known for its secrecy, wanted to dispel any rumors.
"They want to make a point that there is no room for rumors ... Everybody should know that we do have a system to resolve all unexpected situations," he added, pointing to an allegiance council set up by Abdullah to regulate the succession.
However, the princes at the top of the hierarchy are all in their 70s and 80s and the Al Saud family, which founded the kingdom with clerics in 1932, will remain a gerontocracy unless it soon promotes younger princes.
The king is thought to be 86 or 87 and Sultan is only a few years younger. Many technocrat ministers such as Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi are in their 70s.
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