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The present king of Morocco, King Mohammed VI, was born in Rabat in 1963 and is the eldest son of King Hassan II, who died in 1999. Before becoming King he held the title of Crown Prince. Immediately after the death of King Hassan II, King Mohammed VI was enthroned and he is thought of a moderniser who has brought a constitutional monarchy in Morocco. King Mohammed VI is also, according to the Moroccan constitution, Commander of the faithful or religious chief, known in Morocco as Amir al-Muminin.
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King Mohammed VI is the 18th king in the Alaouite dynasty, who have reigned in Morocco since the middle of the 17th Century. The Alaouite family claim decent from Muslim prophet Muhammad. The family entered Morocco at the end of the 13th Century when Al Hassan Addakhil was brought to Morocco by its inhabitants in the hope that he would improve their date palm crop as he was a descendant of the prophet Muhammad and was thought to have divine presence. In the mid 1600’s, the last ruler of the Saadi Dynasty was overthrown in the conquest of Marrakesh by Moulay al-Rashid, the founder of the Alaouite Dynasty.
The king has a fairly large family with one brother, Prince Moulay Rachid, and three sisters, Princess Lalla Meryem, Princess Lalla Asma and Princess Lalla Hasna. The king was married in 2002 to Salma Bennani who was given the title of princess after the marriage and they have two young children, Crown Prince Moulay Hassan, who was born in May 2003 and Princess Lalla Khadija who was born in February 2007.
Soon after taking the throne, King Mohammed VI addressed his people on national television and declared he would tackle poverty and corruption within Morocco and at the same time create more jobs and improve Morocco’s human rights record. Mohammed VI has also created the Mudawana or family code, which grants more power to women, which has been met with much approval and came into effect in 2004.
King Mohammed VI is very well educated man since his father was very keen on giving the young prince a good religious and political education from an early age. At the age of 4 years old Mohammed VI was attending Qur’anic school at the Royal Palace and learned the Qur’an by heart. King Mohammed VI has a B.A. in Law which was obtained in 1985 from College of Law of the Mohammed V University in Rabat. With other qualifications in law following Mohammed VI went to Brussels in 1988 to complete his law training and studied under the then President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors. He finally received his PhD, with very honourable distinction, in 1993 and was then promoted to the rank of Major General in 1994. King Mohammed VI also has an honorary degree from The George Washington University for his efforts in growing the scope of democracy in Morocco. |
