Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco

Princess Lalla Salma (born Salma Bennani, Arabic: سلمى بناني, 10 May 1978) is the former wife of Mohammed VI of Morocco. They married in 2002, and she became the first wife of a Moroccan ruler to have been publicly acknowledged. She was last seen in an official capacity in December 2017, and it was later on reported, in 2018, that she and Mohammed VI had divorced.

Early life and education

She was born as Salma Bennani in Fez. Her father is Abdelhamid Bennani, a university teacher who taught at l'École normale supérieure de Fès and her mother is Naïma Bensouda, who died in 1981 when Salma was three years old. From then on, she and her sister Meryem were raised by her maternal grandmother, Fatma Abdellaoui Maâne. She lived in Rabat, with her half cousin Saira, and the two are commonly seen together in public.

She was educated in Rabat, where she attended a private school, Lycée Hassan II, Lycée Moulay Youssef, and the École nationale supérieure d'informatique et d'analyse des systèmes. 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

Lalla Salma became engaged to King Mohammed VI, whom she first met during a private party in 1999, on 12 October 2001. Their first wedding ceremony, the sadaq ceremony (or proclamation of marriage) took place on 20 March 2002; and the zafaf (or celebration of marriage) took place on 12 and 13 July 2002 at Dar al-Makhzen (the principal Royal palace) in Rabat.

The couple's divorce was unofficially communicated on 21 March 2018 and Lalla Salma stopped carrying out public official engagements then. Since her divorce, she took on engagements in a private capacity, scarcely, and was last seen attending one in 2021.

Issue

Activities and tributes

Lalla Salma 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.

Lalla Salma represented the King and Morocco in meetings and gatherings in Saudi Arabia, Japan, Thailand, Palestine, Tunisia and France. On 29 April 2011, she attended the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton. She also attended the wedding of Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy in 2012 and 2013 inauguration of King Willem-Alexander.

In January 2005, the Spanish government elevated her to the rank of Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic. In September 2005, Lalla Salma founded a cancer prevention association in Morocco. She created the Lalla Salma Foundation – Prevention and Treatment of Cancer and has also been involved in HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa. In 2006, Princess Lalla Salma was named a Goodwill Ambassador of the World Health Organization for the Cancer Care, Promotion and Prevention. Besides being involved in cancer and HIV/AIDS prevention, she also supports and encourages women's empowerment.

In May 2017, the "Mosque H.R.H. Princess Lalla Salma" was built in her honor and inaugurated in Fez. Built on Al Mizane Square, the mosque has a capacity of more than 3,000 worshippers.

Honours

•  Spain: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (14 January 2005).
•  Senegal: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit (1 December 2008).
•  WHO: Gold Medal of the World Health Organization (25 May 2017).

References

External links

• Media related to Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco at Wikimedia Commons