Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco

Lalla Salma (born Salma Bennani, Arabic: سلمى بناني‎, Berber: ⵍⴰⵍⵍⴰ ⵙⵍⵎⴰ; 10 May 1978) is the princess consort of Morocco. She is married to King Mohammed VI, and the first wife of a Moroccan ruler to have been publicly acknowledged and given a royal title.[1]

Salma
Lalla Salma in 2012
Princess consort of Morocco
Tenure	21 March 2002 – present
Born	Salma Bennani 10 May 1978 Fes, Morocco
Spouse	Mohammed VI ​ (m. 2001)​
Issue	Crown Prince Moulay Hassan Princess Lalla Khadija
Father	Hadj Abdelhamid Bennani
Mother	Naïma Bensouda
Religion	Islam

Early life and education

She was born Salma Bennani in Fes.[2]

Her parents were Hadj 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.[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. 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 (the sadaq or proclamation of marriage) and on 21 March 2002 (the zafaf or celebration of marriage), at the Rabat Royal Palace, Rabat.

Issue

Name	Date of birth	Place of birth	Age
Crown Prince Moulay Hassan	8 May 2003	Royal Palace, Rabat, Morocco	17
Princess Lalla Khadija	28 February 2007	Royal Palace, Rabat, Morocco	13

Activities

Lalla 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.

Salma has represented the King and Morocco in meetings and gatherings in Saudi Arabia, Japan, Thailand, Israel, 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.[3]

Princess Lalla Salma founded a cancer prevention association in Morocco.[4] She created the Lalla Salma Foundation – Prevention and Treatment of Cancer[3] and has also been involved in HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa.[3] In 2006, Princess Lalla Salma was named a Goodwill Ambassador of the World Health Organization for the Cancer Care, Promotion and Prevention.[3] Beside involved in cancer and HIV/AIDS prevention, she also supports and encourages women's empowerment.[5]

Honours

• Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic of Spain (14 January 2005).[6]
• Gold Medal of the World Health Organization (25 May 2017).[7]

References

1. Profile Archived 2 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine, nettyroyal.nl; accessed 20 September 2014.
2. "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. "Who is Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco?". royalcentral.co.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
4. "Lalla Salma Association Against Cancer". UICC. Archived 29 May 2012 at Archive.today
5. "HRH Princess Salma Bennani Biography". Arab Royal Family.
6. "Boletín Oficial del Estado" (PDF).
7. "Princess Lalla Salma Receives WHO Gold Medal". The North Africa Post. 26 May 2017. Retrieved 22 September 2018.

External links