Lalla Lalla ( 720–790 CE) was an Indian mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer who belonged to a family of astronomers. Lalla was the son of Trivikrama Bhatta and the grandson of Śâmba."Lalla." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. He liv ...

'' Salma (born Salma Bennani, ar, سلمى بناني, 10 May 1978) is the

princess consort Princess consort is an official title or an informal designation that is normally accorded to the wife of a sovereign prince. The title may be used for the wife of a king if the more usual designation of queen consort is not used. More informal ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

. She is married to

King Mohammed VI Mohammed VI ( ar, محمد السادس; born 21 August 1963) is the King of Morocco. He belongs to the 'Alawi dynasty and acceded to the throne on 23 July 1999, upon the death of his father, King Hassan II. Upon ascending to the throne, Moh ...

, and the first wife of a Moroccan ruler to have been publicly acknowledged and given a royal title. Since she has not been seen in an official capacity since December 2017, there have been speculations in the media that the couple are divorced.

Early life and education

She was born as Salma Bennani in

Fez Fez most often refers to: * Fez (hat), a type of felt hat commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire * Fez, Morocco (or Fes), the second largest city of Morocco Fez or FEZ may also refer to: Media * ''Fez'' (Frank Stella), a 1964 painting by the moder ...

, although some sources cite Marrakech as her place of birth. Her father is Hadj 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, 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 Lycée Moulay Youssef is an educational institution located in the city of Rabat, Morocco. The school opened on 1st of February 1916 although it was only two weeks later, on 17 February 1916, that it was officially created following the Dahir (de ...

, 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 ONA Group (Omnium Nord-Africain, Arabic: مجموعة أونا) was established in 1934 and dissolved in 2010 and succeeded by Societe Nationale d'Investissement. ONA was an industrial, financial and services conglomerate, focused on posit ...

, the country's largest private

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

(which is also controlled by the Moroccan Royal Family).

Marriage and children

Lalla Salma got engaged to

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.

Issue

Activities

'' 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. Lalla Salma has represented the King and Morocco in meetings and gatherings in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

, Japan,

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, Palestine,

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. 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 Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born ) is King of the Netherlands, having acceded to the throne following his mother's abdication in 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht as the oldest child of Princess Beatr ...

. In 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 Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

prevention in Africa. In 2006, Princess Lalla Salma was named a Goodwill Ambassador of the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

for the Cancer Care, Promotion and Prevention. Besides being involved in cancer and HIV/AIDS prevention, she also supports and encourages women's empowerment.

Honours

* Grand Cross of the

Order of Isabella the Catholic The Order of Isabella the Catholic ( es, Orden de Isabel la Católica) is a Spanish civil order and honor granted to persons and institutions in recognition of extraordinary services to the homeland or the promotion of international relations a ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

(14 January 2005). * Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit of Senegal (1 December 2008). * Gold Medal of the

(25 May 2017).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lalla Salma, Princess of Morocco 21st-century women engineers 1978 births Dames Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic Living people Salma Moroccan princesses People from Fez, Morocco Princesses by marriage Recipients of the Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold II 20th-century Moroccan women 21st-century Moroccan women