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

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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].