by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

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Morocco Naming Conventions

• Lalla: meaning Lady is used by the royal family of Morocco for the wife, daughters, and sisters of the king and some other female relatives
• Moulay: meaning Lord is used by the royal family of Morocco for the sons and brothers of the king and some other male relatives
• Sharif/Sharifa(h): a traditional Arabic title meaning noble or highborn

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The newborn Crown Prince and his parents

Crown Prince Moulay Hassan of Morocco is the heir apparent to the throne of Morocco. Born on May 8, 2003, at the Royal Palace in Rabat, Morocco, he is the eldest child and the only son of King Mohammed VI of Morocco and Salma Bennani, now known as Princess Lalla Salma. The Crown Prince was named after his paternal grandfather King Hassan II of Morocco.

Crown Prince Hassan has one younger sister:

• Princess Lalla Khadija (born 2007)

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King Mohammed VI and Crown Prince Moulay Hassan pray at the tomb of King Hassan II in 2010

After his primary education, Crown Prince Hassan attended the Royal Academy, a school located at the Royal Palace in Rabat, Morocco. This school was founded in 1942 by his great-grandfather King Mohammed V who wanted to send his son, the future King Hassan II, to the Ecole des Roches in France but was unable to do so because of World War II. Since then, the school has opened a class for each senior prince or princess of the royal family of Morocco with other students of a similar age also attending.

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Crown Prince Moulay Hassan in 2013

At the end of his second year at the Royal Academy, Hassan decided he wanted to become a pilot. He then switched schools and began attending the Preparatory College in Aeronautical Techniques in Marrakech, Morocco where he pursued his academic studies and pilot training. King Mohammed VI had no objections to his son’s decision to become a pilot as long as he continued his training to become King of Morocco. That training includes learning about dress code and table manners when receiving foreign delegations, public speechmaking, presiding over official events, managing business portfolios, and initiating political and diplomatic debates behind closed doors.

The Crown Prince completed his secondary education in the spring of 2020. In July 2020, it was announced that Hassan has passed the 2020 baccalaureate exams with honors and received his international baccalaureate in the field of economics and social sciences. During the 2020 – 2021 academic year, Hassan studied humanities and social sciences at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. The Crown Prince is fluent in Arabic, French, English, and Spanish.

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French President Emmanuel Macron meets with King Mohammed and Crown Prince Moulay Hassan at the Royal Palace in Rabat on June 14, 2017

Crown Prince Hassan made his first official public appearance in 2014 and since then has attended high-level meetings with his father King Mohammed VI. He was the youngest participant at the One Planet Summit in France in December 2017, earning him international admiration. Hassan represents King Mohammed VI at national events and also represents Morocco at international diplomatic events such as funerals.

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Crown Prince Moulay Hassan and Prince Jean D’Orleans, Duke of Vendôme attend the funeral of Prince Henri Of Orleans, Count Of Paris at the Chapelle Royale in Dreux, France, February 2, 2019

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Ar.wikipedia.org. 2020. الحسن بن محمد. [online] Available at: <https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%B3%D9%86_%D8%A8%D9%86_%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF> [Accessed 26 August 2020].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Moulay Hassan, Crown Prince Of Morocco. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moulay_Hassan,_Crown_Prince_of_Morocco> [Accessed 26 August 2020].
• Middle East Eye. 2020. Morocco’s Mohammed VI: Is His Son Ready For The Crown?. [online] Available at: <https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/morocco-mohammed-vi-son-succession-crown> [Accessed 26 August 2020].
• Morocco World News. 2018. Morocco’s Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan Prepares For Aeronautics Exams. [online] Available at: <https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/04/244796/moroccos-crown-prince-moulay-el-hassan-prepares-for-aeronautics-exams/> [Accessed 26 August 2020].
• Morocco World News. 2020. Morocco’s Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan Passes Baccalaureate Exams. [online] Available at: <https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/07/308223/moroccos-crown-prince-moulay-el-hassan-passes-baccalaureate-exams/> [Accessed 26 August 2020].

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Morocco Naming Conventions

• Lalla: meaning Lady is used by the royal family of Morocco for the wife, daughters, and sisters of the king and some other female relatives
• Moulay: meaning Lord is used by the royal family of Morocco for the sons and brothers of the king and some other male relatives
• Sharif/Sharifa(h): a traditional Arabic title meaning noble or highborn

King Hassan II of Morocco was born on July 9, 1929, at the Royal Palace in Rabat, then in the French Protectorate of Morocco. He was the eldest child of Mohammed V, then Sultan of Morocco (1909–1961), and his second wife Lalla Abla bint Tahar (1909–1992).

Hassan had four younger siblings:

• Princess Lalla Aicha (1931 – 2011), married (1) Moulay Hassan al-Yaqubi, had two daughters, divorced (2) Moulay Hassan al-Mahdi, no children
• Princess Lalla Malika (1933 – 2021), married Lieutenant-General Sharif Moulay Muhammad Cherkaoui, had three sons and one daughter
• Prince Moulay Abdallah (1935 – 1983), married Lamia Solh, had two sons and one daughter
• Princess Lalla Nuzha (1940 – 1977), married Ahmed Osman, had one son, died in a car accident

Hassan had one half-sister from his father’s marriage to Lalla Hanila bint Mamoun:

• Princess Lalla Fatima Zohra (1929 – 2014), married Prince Moulay Ali Alaoui, had two sons and one daughter

Hassan had one half-sister from his father’s third marriage to Lalla Bahia bint Antar:

• Princess Lalla Amina (1954 – 2012), married Sharif Moulay Idris Al-Wazani, had one daughter

Hassan was educated at the Royal Academy, a school located at the Royal Palace in Rabat, Morocco. This school was founded in 1942 by Hassan’s father who wanted to send his son to the Ecole des Roches in France but was unable to do so because of World War II. Since then, the school has opened a class for each senior prince or princess of the royal family of Morocco with other students of a similar age also attending. After completing his studies at the Royal Academy, Hassan earned a law degree from the University of Bordeaux in France. When he was thirteen years old, Hassan attended the historic Casablanca Conference between his father, President Franklin Roosevelt, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Casablanca, Morocco in 1943.

In 1953, the French colonial authorities forced Hassan’s father Sultan Mohammed V, an important national symbol in the growing Moroccan independence movement, into exile in Corsica, France along with his family. Mohammed V and his family were moved to Madagascar in January 1954. Mohammed V returned from exile in November 1955 and was again recognized as Sultan. Hassan participated in the February 1956 negotiations for Morocco’s independence with his father. In March 1956, the French protectorate was ended and Morocco gained its independence from France as the Kingdom of Morocco. Mohammed V changed the title of the Moroccan sovereign from Sultan to King the following year, and Hassan was proclaimed Crown Prince on July 19, 1957.

In 1961, Hassan married Lalla Latifa Hammou Amahzoune (born 1946,) a member of the Zayane tribe. Also in 1961, Hassan married, Lalla Fatima bint Qaid Ould Hassan Amhourak, a cousin of Latifa Hammou, but they had no children.  After the death of Hassan II, Lalla Latifa married Mohamed Mediouri, Hassan’s bodyguard and former security chief of the Royal Palace.

Hassan and Lalla Latifa had five children:

• Princess Lalla Meryem (born 1962), married Fuad Filali, had one daughter and one son
• King Mohammed VI (born 1963), married Salma Bennani, had one son Crown Prince Moulay Hassan and one daughter Princess Lalla Khadija
• Princess Lalla Asma (born 1965), married Khalid Bouchentouf, had one son and one daughter
• Princess Lalla Hasna (born 1967), married Dr. Khalil Benharbit, had two daughters
• Prince Moulay Rachid (born 1970), married Oum Kalthum Boufarès, had one son

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Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh pose with King Hassan ll and his family onboard the Royal Yacht Britannia on October 30, 1980, in Casablanca, Morocco

Upon the death of King Mohammed V on March 3, 1961, his son became Hassan II, King of Morocco. Morocco held its first general elections in 1963. However, Hassan declared a state of emergency and suspended parliament in 1965. In 1971, there was a failed assassination and coup attempt against Hassan. The brother of Hassan’s wife Lalla Latifa, General Medbouh Hammou Amahzoune, was executed along with nine other high-ranking military officers for having participated in the failed coup attempt. In 1972, Hassan survived another assassination attempt.

From the 1960s to the late 1980s, Morocco’s human rights record was extremely poor. In Morocco, those years are known as the Years of Lead.  Thousands of dissidents were jailed, exiled, or disappeared. During this time, Morocco was one of the most repressive and undemocratic countries in the world. Due to pressure from other countries and human rights groups and the threat of international isolation, Hassan began to gradually democratize Morocco. Political reforms in the 1990s resulted in the establishment of a two-house legislature in 1997 and Morocco’s first opposition-led government came to power in 1998.

For the remainder of Hassan’s reign, Morocco’s human rights record improved modestly. It improved significantly following the death of Hassan II in 1999 when he was succeeded by his son as King Mohammed VI who reigned as a cautious modernizer and introduced economic and social liberalization measures. The Equity and Reconciliation Commission was set up in 2004 to investigate human rights abuses during Hassan’s reign. The commission confirmed nearly 10,000 cases of human rights abuses and concluded that 742 disappeared individuals had died.

Despite the human rights abuses in Morocco, Hassan fostered some of the earliest contacts between Israel and its Arab enemies, including meetings that were key to the normalization of relations between Israel and Egypt that led to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s historic visit to Jerusalem in 1977 and the Camp David Accords of 1978.

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World leaders follow the funeral procession of King Hassan II of Morocco, July 25, 1999

On July 23, 1999, King Hassan II of Morocco died, aged 70, from pneumonia in Rabat, Morocco. Over forty heads of state and other dignitaries attended his funeral including United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, American President Bill Clinton, former American President George H.W. Bush, French President Jacques Chirac, Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, King Abdullah II of Jordan, King Juan Carlos of Spain, and Prince Charles representing his mother Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. The funeral became a diplomatic opportunity with many of the leaders holding informal meetings before and after the funeral.

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The funeral procession passing through Rabat

About 2 million Moroccans gathered along the three-mile route of the funeral procession as King Hassan’s casket draped with a black covering embroidered with verses from the Koran and borne by a military gun carriage made its way to the burial site followed by the large turnout of world leaders walking behind the casket.

King Hassan II was buried near the tomb of his father King Mohammed V in a massive mausoleum known as the Mausoleum of Mohammed V in Rabat, Morocco. Hassan’s coffin was carried into the mausoleum by his son King Mohammed VI, his brother Prince Moulay Rachid, and his cousin Prince Moulay Hicham. Only a small group of male family members, courtiers, and Muslim foreigners, including Yasser Arafat, attended the burial but it was broadcast on Moroccan television.

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King Mohammed VI and his brother Prince Moulay Rachid pray at the tomb of their father 40 days after the funeral

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Ar.wikipedia.org. 2020. الحسن الثاني بن محمد. [online] Available at: <https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%B3%D9%86_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AB%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A_%D8%A8%D9%86_%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF> [Accessed 26 August 2020].
• Archive.nytimes.com. 1999. Moroccan Mourners, World Leaders Throng King Hassan’s Funeral. [online] Available at: <https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/world/africa/072599hassan-funeral.html> [Accessed 26 August 2020].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Hassan II Of Morocco. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_II_of_Morocco> [Accessed 26 August 2020].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Morocco. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco> [Accessed 26 August 2020].
• Los Angeles Times. 1999. World Leaders Join 2 Million At King’s Funeral. [online] Available at: <https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jul-26-mn-59692-story.html> [Accessed 26 August 2020].

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2014

Morocco Naming Conventions

• Lalla: meaning Lady is used by the royal family of Morocco for the wife, daughters, and sisters of the king and some other female relatives
• Moulay: meaning Lord is used by the royal family of Morocco for the sons and brothers of the king and some other male relatives
• Sharif/Sharifa(h): a traditional Arabic title meaning noble or highborn

Salma Bennani was born on May 10, 1978, in Fez, Morocco. She is one of two daughters of Al-Haj Abdel Hamid Bennani, a school teacher, and his wife Naima Bensouda. Salma’s mother died when she was three years old and thereafter she was raised by her maternal grandmother.

Salma Bennani was educated in private and public schools in Rabat, the capital of Morocco. There she attended Lycée Hassan II, Lycée Moulay Youssef, and l’École Nationale Supérieure d’Informatique et d’Analyse de Systèmes (National School of Computer Science and Systems Analysis), where she received a degree in computer science and was her class valedictorian. Salma is fluent in Arabic, French, English, and Spanish. After graduation, she worked in Casablanca, Morocco as an information services engineer at Omnium North Africa Group, the country’s largest private holding company.

In 1999, Salma met her future husband, King Mohammed VI of Morocco, at a private party. Reportedly, Salma set some ground rules, one of which was insisting on a monogamous marriage as a condition for accepting the King’s proposal. King Mohammed’s father had two wives as had many rulers of Morocco before him. Traditionally, wives of Kings of Morocco remained private figures, so the King surprised many in Morocco when he announced his future wife’s name.

On March 21, 2002, Salma Bennani married King Mohammed VI of Morocco at the Royal Palace in Rabat. She was granted the style Her Royal Highness and the title Princess Lalla.

The couple has two children:

• Crown Prince Moulay Hassan, born on May 8, 2003
• Princess Lalla Khadija, born on February 28, 2007

Although her predecessors were private figures, Princess Lalla Salma became a public Islamic consort in the style of Queen Noor, the wife of King Hussein of Jordan, and Queen Rania, the wife of King Abdullah II of Jordan. One of her major achievements was the founding in 2005 of the Lalla Salma Foundation – Prevention and Treatment of Cancers to raise public awareness of cancer. With this organization, Princess Lalla Salma organized the first national cancer registry and worked with many international partners in the fight against cancer. Princess Lalla Salma is also involved in HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa and she received the Sharjah Voluntary Work Award, one of the most important awards in the Arab world.

Princess Lalla Salma represented Morocco at events around the world. She attended the wedding of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, not The Prince and Princess of Wales, in London in April 2011, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands’ investiture in April 2013, and the wedding of Prince Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Countess Stephanie de Lannoy in October 2013.

Princess Lalla Salma has been noticeably absent from public appearances since the beginning of 2018. A March 2018 article in the Spanish magazine Hola! mentioned that King Mohammed and Princess Lalla Salma had divorced according to sources close to the palace, however, there has been no formal announcement from the royal court. Princess Lalla Salma stopped carrying out public official engagements in 2018. She did a few engagements in a private capacity but her last private engagement was in 2021.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2014

Morocco Naming Conventions

• Lalla: meaning Lady is used by the royal family of Morocco for the wife, daughters, and sisters of the king and some other female relatives
• Moulay: meaning Lord is used by the royal family of Morocco for the sons and brothers of the king and some other male relatives
• Sharif/Sharifa(h): a traditional Arabic title meaning noble or highborn

King Mohammed VI of Morocco was born on August 21, 1963, in Rabat, the capital of the African country of Morocco.  His parents were King Hassan II of Morocco and Princess Lalla Latifa Amahzoune.

King Mohammed has four siblings:

• Princess Lalla Meryem (born 1962), married Fuad Filali, had one daughter and one son
• Princess Lalla Asma (born 1965), married Khalid Bouchentouf, had one son and one daughter
• Princess Lalla Hasna (born 1967), married Dr. Khalil Benharbit, had two daughters
• Prince Moulay Rachid (born 1970), married Oum Kalthum Boufarès, had one son

King Mohammed began his education at the age of four when he was enrolled in the Koranic School at the Dâr-al-Makhzen in Rabat. He then attended the Collège Royal, a school located inside the Royal Palace in Rabat founded in 1942 that specializes in the education of princes and princesses of the Alaouite dynasty.  The King completed his primary and secondary education at the Collège Royal in 1981. He then attended the Mohammed V University at Agdal and received a Bachelor’s Degree in law in 1985. In 1987, King Mohammed received a Certificate of Higher Specialized Studies in political sciences. He received an additional Certificate of Higher Specialized Studies in public law in 1988. The King received a Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy) in law with distinction in 1993 from the Nice Sophia Antipolis University in Nice, France. The topic of his thesis was “Cooperation between the European Economic Community and the Arab Maghreb Union”. King Mohammed is fluent in Arabic, French, Spanish, and English.

On July 23, 1999, King Hassan II died and Mohammed became king. The ceremony of presenting allegiance to His Majesty King Mohammed took place on the same day in the Throne Room of the Royal Palace in Rabat. The enthronement ceremony took place on July 30, 1999. King Mohammed VI solemnly performed the Islamic Friday prayer and gave his first speech from the throne at the Royal Palace in Rabat.

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King Mohammed VI of Morocco delivers his enthronement speech

King Mohammed VI is the president of several charitable organizations including the Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity whose motto is “Ready to help the needy.”

On March 21, 2002, Mohammed married computer engineer Salma Bennani (now HRH Princess Lalla Salma) at the Royal Palace in Rabat.  Princess Lalla Salma has been noticeably absent from public appearances since the beginning of 2018. A March 2018 article in the Spanish magazine Hola! mentioned that King Mohammed and Princess Lalla Salma had divorced according to sources close to the palace, but there has been no such announcement from the royal court.

The couple has two children:

• Crown Prince Moulay Hassan born on May 8, 2003
• Princess Lalla Khadija, born on February 28, 2007

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King Mohammed VI of Morocco and his son Crown Prince Hassan at the international ceremony for the Centenary of the World War I Armistice of November 11, 1918

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.