Lalla Latifa | |
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Princess Dowager | |
Born | Latifa Amahzoune 1943 or 1944 Khenifra, Morocco |
Spouse |
Mohamed Mediouri (m. 2000) |
Issue |
Princess Lalla Meryem King Mohammed VI Princess Lalla Asma Princess Lalla Hasna Prince Moulay Rachid |
Father | Hassan ould Mouha ou Hammou Zayani |
Royal family of Morocco |
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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]
She was born under the name Latifa Amahzoune in 1943 or 1944. [3] Lalla Latifa is of the Zayane tribe[ citation needed] and comes from an important Amazigh family. [7] She is the daughter of a provincial governor, [8] her father is Hassan ould Mouha ou Hammou Zayani, Pasha of Khenifra and Adel of the Zayanes. [9] [note 1] Her grandfather is the famous Mouha ou Hammou Zayani. [10] She married Hassan II on November 9, 1961 [11] in a double nuptial ceremony with Lalla Lamia as-Solh [11] 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. [12] [13] The execution took place on 13 July 1971 and was broadcast live on state TV. [13]
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 [14] where she possesses a residence in Neuilly-sur-Seine and often returned to Morocco. [15] [16] In 2019, she settled permanently in Morocco, in Marrakesh. [17]
She married Hassan II on November 9, 1961 [11] and became from then on Her Highness Princess Lalla Latifa. [1] [18] Five children were born from their union, including the current monarch Mohammed VI:
After the death of Hassan II, she remarried to Mohamed Mediouri, [19] [20] the bodyguard of the late Monarch [20] and former security chief of the royal palace. [21] Her remarriage took place in May 2000. [22] [23]
In 2018, in her honour, King Mohammed VI inaugurated the “Mosque of H.H. Princess Lalla Latifa” in Salé. [18] This mosque is located in Hay Essalam and has an area of 1,200 square meters. [24] 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. [24] The design of the mosque is a combination of traditional Andalusian architecture with a modern addition. [24]
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 ...
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.
Hassan II (r.1961-99), on his accession, married Lalla Latifa, the daughter of a provincial governor
Hassan ould Moha ou Hammou, Adel of the Zaïanes, Pacha de Khenifra
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 ...
Mohamed Médiouri ... had married the mother of Mohammed VI, and therefore the former wife of Hassan II, Latifa
... and Hassan II's former bodyguard, Mohamed Mediouri, who is the current king's stepfather.
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.