Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco

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.

Early life and education

She was born Salma Bennani in Fes to an upper middle class family.

Her parents were Hajj Abdelhamid Bennani, a schoolteacher, and 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, Hajja 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 l'École Nationale Supérieure d'Informatique et d'Analyse de Systèmes. 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

Salma married King Mohammed VI on 12 October 2001 (sadaq)) and on 21 March 2002 (zafaf =consummation), at the Dar al-Makhzin, Rabat, and was granted the title of Princess Lalla, with the style of Royal Highness on her marriage.

The royal couple have two children:

• Moulay Hassan, Crown Prince of Morocco (born 8 May 2003 in Rabat).
• Princess Lalla Khadija of Morocco (born 28 February 2007 in Rabat).

• Paris Match royal blog

Royal role

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.

On 29 April, the day after the 2011 Marrakech bombing, she attended the wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Middleton.

Salma has represented the King and Morocco in meetings and gatherings in Thailand, Japan, and France. She founded a cancer prevention association in Morocco 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.

Titles, styles, and honours

Titles and styles

Lalla Salma is styled as Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Salma.

Honours

• Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold II of Belgium (5 October 2004).
• Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic of Spain (14 January 2005).
• Dame Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit of Senegal (1 December 2008).

• Boletín Oficial del Estado
• Princess Lalla Salma decorated by President of Senegal