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Lalla Latifa
Princess Dowager
BornLatifa Amahzoune
1943 or 1944
Khenifra, Morocco
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1961; died 1999)​

Mohamed Mediouri
(m. 2000)
IssuePrincess Lalla Meryem
King Mohammed VI
Princess Lalla Asma
Princess Lalla Hasna
Prince Moulay Rachid
FatherHassan ould Mouha ou Hammou Zayani
Royal family of Morocco

Princess Lalla Latifa

Princess Lalla Lamia

Princess Lalla Latifa[1][2] née: Amahzoune; (born 1943 or 1944)[3] is the widow of King Hassan II of Morocco, and the mother of King Mohammed VI, Princesses Lalla Meryem, Lalla Asma, Lalla Hasna, and Prince Moulay Rachid.[4][5][6]

Biography

She was born under the name Latifa Amahzoune in 1943 or 1944.[3] Lalla Latifa is of the Zayane tribe[7] and comes from an important Amazigh family.[8] She is the daughter of a provincial governor,[9] her father is Hassan ould Mouha ou Hammou Zayani, Pasha of Khenifra and Adel of the Zayanes.[10][note 1] Her grandfather is the famous Mouha ou Hammou Zayani.[11] She married Hassan II on November 9, 1961[12] in a double nuptial ceremony with Lalla Lamia as-Solh[12] the bride of Prince Moulay Abdallah of Morocco.

She is maternal half-sister to General Mohamed Medbouh (the latter's father being of the Gzennaya Riffian tribe) who was executed – along with 9 other high-ranking military officers – for having widely participated in the 1971 failed coup d'état attempt against Hassan II, which took place during the King's forty-second birthday party in his summer palace.[13][14] The execution took place on 13 July 1971 and was broadcast live on state TV.[14]

Lalla Latifa never held a public role and remained a non-public member of the royal family, as per peculiar protocol.[1] She was referred to by the Moroccan media as "Mother of the Royal Children".

From 2000, she lived in France[15] where she possesses a residence in Neuilly-sur-Seine and often returned to Morocco.[16][17] In 2019, she settled permanently in Morocco, in Marrakesh.[18]

Private life

She married Hassan II on November 9, 1961[12] and became from then on Her Highness Princess Lalla Latifa.[1][19] Five children were born from their union, including the current monarch Mohammed VI:

After the death of Hassan II, she remarried to Mohamed Mediouri,[20][21][22] the bodyguard of the late Monarch[22] and former security chief of the royal palace.[23] Her remarriage took place in May 2000.[24]

Tribute

In 2018, in her honour, King Mohammed VI inaugurated the “Mosque of H.H. Princess Lalla Latifa” in Salé.[19] This mosque is located in Hay Essalam and has an area of 1,200 square meters.[25] It has the capacity to accommodate more than 1,800 worshippers. It also has a Koranic school, two prayer rooms and accommodation for the imam and the muezzin.[25] The design of the mosque is a combination of traditional Andalusian architecture with a modern addition.[25]

Notes

  1. ^ Proceeded by elimination: her father is a provincial governor, and in Morocco the “Pasha” of a city, in this case Khenifra, is the equivalent of the governor of a city. In the Middle Atlas its capital Khenifra administrated the region (being rural). Also her grand-father being Mouha ou Hammou, her father can only be his son and we know that he is a "provincial governor" & among Mouha ou Hammou's sons only Hassan was "Pasha=Governor" of Khenifra (he was also the last feudal leader)

References

  1. ^ a b c "Hassan II du Maroc invité de "L'Heure de Vérité" | Archive INA". YouTube (in French). From 1:06:30s to 1:07:30s. Journalist: Why don't we know the Queen of Morocco ? King Hassan II's response: ... there has never been a Queen ... when I have the opportunity to present the mother of princes who bears the title of Princess [but who] not that of Queen. Who has no political activity ... I present her very normally because I believe that she is, that she is well brought up, that she is very presentable ...
  2. ^ Aissa Amourag (17 October 2008). "Une escroquerie presque parfaite". MarocHebdo. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  3. ^ a b Images, Historic. "1962 Press Photo Morocco's King Hassan II with his infant daughter, Mariam". Historic Images. Retrieved 9 January 2024. Morocco's King Hassan II visited his daughter, Mariam, who was born in a Rome clinic. Announcement of the infant's birth was the first word that the king had married a commoner. The Moroccan embassy in Rome said she is Latifa, 18, daughter of a Berber chieftain.
  4. ^ (24 July 1999). Morocco's King Hassan dies, aged 70, Independent Online (South Africa)
  5. ^ (27 March 1989). Royal Treat for Maggie, Evening Times
  6. ^ (15 February 2009). Prohibido publicar fotos de la madre de Mohamed VI (Forbidden to publish photographs of Mohamed VI's mother), El País (in Spanish)
  7. ^ "Lalla Latifa". frontend. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  8. ^ Reich, Bernard (21 February 1990). Political Leaders of the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 231. ISBN 978-0-313-26213-5.
  9. ^ Mack, Beverley; Boyd, Jean (23 September 2013). Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma u 1793-1864. Kube Publishing Ltd. p. 123. ISBN 978-1-84774-061-8. Hassan II (r.1961-99), on his accession, married Lalla Latifa, the daughter of a provincial governor
  10. ^ Bulletin des études arabes: (intermédiaire des arabisants) (in French). Swets and Zeitlinger. 1966. p. 29. Hassan ould Moha ou Hammou, Adel of the Zaïanes, Pacha de Khenifra
  11. ^ occidentale (France), Laboratoire d'anthropologie et de préhistoire des pays de la Méditerranée; musulman, Institut de recherches et d'études sur le monde arabe et (2005). Encyclopédie berbère (in French). EDISUD. ISBN 978-2-7449-0538-4. That King Mohammed VI, who is himself the great-grandson of Moha ou Hammou, took advantage of a stay in Khenifra to announce in October 2001 ...
  12. ^ a b c "magazine picture – 1961 – morocco moulay abdallah king hassan II wedding". eBay. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  13. ^ "1971: Death for Moroccan rebel leaders". BBC. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  14. ^ a b شاهد على العصر – أحمد المرزوقي – الجزء الثالث (in Arabic). Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  15. ^ Média, Prisma (5 October 2020). "Mohammed VI, roi du Maroc, s'offre un pied-à-terre de 80 millions d'euros à Paris - Gala". Gala.fr (in French). Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  16. ^ Jeune Afrique l'intelligent (in French). Groupe Jeune Afrique. 2008. p. 8.
  17. ^ Vermeren, Pierre (2009). Le Maroc de Mohammed VI: la transition inachevée (in French). Découverte. p. 70. ISBN 978-2-7071-5582-5.
  18. ^ "Mohammed VI rend visite à sa mère à Marrakech". bladinet (in French). Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  19. ^ a b "SM le Roi, Amir Al-Mouminine, inaugure à Salé la "Mosquée SA la Princesse Lalla Latifa" et y accomplit la prière du vendredi – La commune de Salé" (in French). 3 August 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  20. ^ Mahjoub Tobji (13 September 2006). Les officiers de Sa Majesté:Les dérives des généraux marocains 1956-2006 (PDF) (in French). Fayard. p. 52. ISBN 978-2-213-64072-3. Médiouri ... ended up marrying the widow of Hassan II, Latifa, a few years after the disappearance of the sovereign.
  21. ^ Ali Amar (29 April 2009). Mohammed VI, le grand malentendu (PDF) (in French). Calman-Levy. p. 52. ISBN 978-2-702-14857-0. Mohamed Médiouri ... had married the mother of Mohammed VI, and therefore the former wife of Hassan II, Latifa
  22. ^ a b AFP. "Moroccan king also targeted by NSO Group's malware". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 31 May 2023. ... and Hassan II's former bodyguard, Mohamed Mediouri, who is the current king's stepfather.
  23. ^ Cembrero, Ignacio (20 May 2019). "El misterioso intento de asesinato en Marrakech del padrastro de Mohamed VI". vanitatis.elconfidencial.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 May 2023. Mediouri was, between 1976 and 2000, a bodyguard and later head of the Department of Royal Protection, that is, in charge of the security of King Hassan II, who died in 1999.
  24. ^ Ignace Dalle (9 March 2011). Hassan II entre tradition et absolutisme. Fayard. ISBN 978-2-213-66458-3.
  25. ^ a b c "First Friday of Ramadan: King Mohammed VI Inaugurates Mosque 'Lalla Latifa'". www.moroccoworldnews.com/.
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