Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco
| Lalla Salma | |
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 Lalla Salma in 2012 | |
| Princess consort of Morocco | |
| Tenure | 21 March 2002 – present |
| Born | 10 May 1978 Fes, Morocco |
| Spouse | Mohammed VI of Morocco (m. 2001) |
| Issue | Crown Prince Moulay Hassan Princess Lalla Khadija |
| Father | Hajj Abdelhamid Bennani |
| Mother | Naïma Bensouda |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
| Royal family of Morocco |
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HRH Princess Lalla Lamia
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Princess Lalla Salma born Salma Bennani; (Arabic: الأميرة للا سلمى, Amazigh: ⵍⴰⵍⵍⴰ ⵙⵍⵎⴰ;10 May 1978, Fes) is the princess consort of Morocco. She is the wife of King Mohammed VI and the first wife of a Moroccan ruler to have been publicly acknowledged and given a royal title.[1]
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Early life and education[change | change source]
She was born Salma Bennani in Fes to a middle class family.[2]
Her parents were Hajj Abdelhamid Bennani, a schoolteacher,[3] and Naïma Bensouda,[3] who died in 1981, when Salma was three years old; from then on she and her sister Meryem were raised by her maternal grandmother, Hajja Fatma Abdellaoui Maâne. She lived in Rabat, with her half cousin Saira, and the two are commonly seen together in public.[1]
She was educated in Rabat, where she attended a private school, Lycée Hassan II, Lycée Moulay Youssef, and l'École Nationale Supérieure d'Informatique et d'Analyse de Systèmes.[3] She met her husband during a private party in 1999. After completing her engineering studies, she worked for a few months as an information services engineer at ONA Group, the country's largest private holding company (which is also controlled by the Moroccan Royal Family).
Marriage and children[change | change source]
Salma married King Mohammed VI on 12 October 2001 (the sadaq or proclamation of marriage) and on 21 March 2002 (the zafaf or celebration of marriage), at the Dar al-Makhzin, Rabat, and was granted the title of Princess Lalla, with the style of Royal Highness on her marriage.[3]
The royal couple have two children:[4]
- Moulay Hassan, Crown Prince of Morocco (born 8 May 2003 in Rabat).
- Princess Lalla Khadija of Morocco (born 28 February 2007 in Rabat).
Royal role[change | change source]
Salma has kept quite a low profile as Princess of Morocco, although a more public one than her predecessors. She supports cancer associations and the Fez Sacred Music Festival.[5]
On 29 April, the day after the 2011 Marrakech bombing, she attended the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton.[6]
Salma has represented the King and Morocco in meetings and gatherings in Thailand, Japan, Israel and France. She founded a cancer prevention association in Morocco[7] and has been involved in HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa work. Recently, she visited Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. She attended the wedding of Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy in 2012. In April 2013, Salma attended the inauguration of the new Dutch King Willem-Alexander in Amsterdam.[source?]
Ancestry[change | change source]
| Relatives of Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco |
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Titles, styles, and honours[change | change source]
| Styles of Princess Salma of Morocco | |
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| Reference style | Her Royal Highness |
| Spoken style | Your Royal Highness |
Titles and styles[change | change source]
Lalla Salma is styled as Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Salma.
Honours[change | change source]
- Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold II of Belgium (5 October 2004).[3]
- Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic of Spain (14 January 2005).[8]
- Dame Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit of Senegal (1 December 2008).[9]
References[change | change source]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco. |
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Profile, nettyroyal.nl; accessed 20 September 2014.
- ↑ "RWB" (in French). Reporters sans frontières (Morocco)/VSD. 7 March 2002. Archived from the original on 25 December 2003. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
Tout le royaume bruisse de l’événement à venir. Courant mars, sa majesté Mohammed VI se mariera. L’heureuse élue, Salma Bennani, est une jeune femme de 25 ans, native de Fès et issue de la haute bourgeoisie.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 The Alawi Dynasty – Genealogy – website The Royal Ark
- ↑ Paris Match royal blog
- ↑ The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor: Princess Lalla Salma Gets Ethereal. Orderofsplendor.blogspot.co.uk (4 June 2010); retrieved 9 April 2012.
- ↑ The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor: Royal Fashion Awards: Foreign Royals at the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge's Wedding. Orderofsplendor.blogspot.co.uk (29 April 2011); retrieved 9 April 2012.
- ↑ Lalla Salma Association Against Cancer – website UICC
- ↑ Boletín Oficial del Estado
- ↑ Princess Lalla Salma decorated by President of Senegal
