Mohammed VI of Morocco
Mohammed VI of Morocco was eight years old in 1971 when he received United States Vice President Spiro Agnew at the Royal Palace in Rabat. It was his first public engagement, and he would not become king for another twenty-eight years. In 1974, at ten, he stood in for his father at the funeral of French president Georges Pompidou.
Born on the 21st of August 1963 as Mohammed ben El Hassan, he is a member of the Alawi dynasty and has reigned as King of Morocco since 1999. His father, Hassan II, was held to be a moderating influence among Arab nations and in relations between the Arab world and the West.
What does it take to turn a boy into a monarch before he can drive a car? What did this king promise his people when the crown finally came, and how much power did he keep for himself? And what do the accounts of his fortune say about the monarchy he leads?
At the age of four, Mohammed began attending the Quranic school inside the Royal Palace. His day started at 6 am with an hour-long recitation of the Quran, and formal lessons followed. Hassan II wanted his son to have a religious and political education from the earliest age. Mohammed was the second child and eldest son of the king and his wife, Lalla Latifa.
His primary and secondary studies took place at the Collège Royal, a specialized school built inside the fortified walls of the palace. Hassan II wanted the boy to feel competitive pressure, so he chose twelve classmates known for their intelligence. Mohammed Aouad, a diplomat and professor who later became a government minister, supervised the lessons. Moroccan and European governesses assisted him. Mohammed excelled in languages.
A harsher picture appears in Le Roi prédateur, a 2012 biography by two French journalists. It describes Hassan instructing his aides to give the boy twenty lashes when he seemed to lag in his studies.
In 1981 Mohammed passed his Baccalaureate. In 1985 he earned a bachelor's degree in law at Mohammed V University at Agdal. His research paper examined the Arab-African Union and the strategy of the Kingdom of Morocco in international relations. The same year he became president of the Pan Arab Games, and on the 26th of November 1985 he was commissioned a Brigadier General of the Royal Moroccan Army. He then coordinated the offices and services of the Royal Armed Forces until 1994.
A first Certificat d'Études Supérieures in political sciences followed in 1987, and a Diplôme d'Études Approfondies in public law in July 1988. That November he trained in Brussels with Jacques Delors, the President of the European Commission. Within a few years, his studies would take him to Nice.
A childhood friend later remembered that Mohammed harboured fantasies about the world beyond the palace walls and seldom ventured outside them. One of his favourite songs was "Breakfast in America" by the English rock band Supertramp. The song celebrates the allure of travel by jumbo jet.
The New York Times wrote that, during the years he spent waiting in the wings, he gained a reputation as a playboy with a fondness for fast cars and nightclubs. A noticeable estrangement grew between the prince and his father. He actively avoided Hassan II, even on his visits to Morocco.
Instead, he frequented Amnesia, an illicit club underground in Rabat. According to Le Roi prédateur, his close school friend Fouad Ali El Himma made those visits easier. El Himma installed a private lift that ran from his apartment above straight down into the club.
A biography by Ferran Sales Aige adds that the king received reports from his spies saying the young prince regularly visited bars. Hassan's dissatisfaction deepened. In a moment of despair, he was rumoured to have called his son's behaviour a "chromosome error."
Mohammed was sent to study law in Nice, and the interior minister, dispatched by his father, closely monitored his activities. On the 29th of October 1993, he received his PhD in law with distinction from the French University of Nice Sophia Antipolis. His thesis was titled "EEC-Maghreb Relations."
On the 12th of July 1994 he was promoted to Major General. That same year he became president of the High Council of Culture and Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Moroccan Army. These titles gave him a military command five years before he would inherit the throne.
On the 23rd of July 1999, Mohammed became king upon the death of his father. His enthronement took place on the 30th of July. On that occasion he addressed his people on national television and promised to take on poverty and corruption. He also pledged to create jobs and to improve Morocco's human rights record.
Islamist conservatives opposed his reformist rhetoric, and some of his early reforms angered fundamentalists. His first directives included dismissing Driss Basri, his father's hardline interior minister. He also appointed some of his former classmates to key positions in the state bureaucracy.
In February 2004, Mohammed enacted a new family code, the Mudawana, which granted women more power. In July of that year he announced that Morocco would lift visa restrictions for Algerians. Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika reciprocated in 2005.
He also created the Equity and Reconciliation Commission, which was tasked with researching human rights violations under Hassan II. Many welcomed the move as a step toward democracy. Critics pointed out that the commission's reports did not name the perpetrators, and human rights organizations say violations are still common in Morocco.
The protests of 2011 were led by the 20th of February Movement and fed on corruption, general political discontent and the hardships of the global economic crisis. Revolutions that had just overthrown the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt inspired the demonstrators. Among their demands were "urgent" political and social reforms, including the relinquishment of some of the king's powers.
In a speech on the 9th of March 2011, Mohammed said parliament would receive "new powers that enable it to discharge its representative, legislative, and regulatory mission." The judiciary would gain greater independence from the king. He also announced a committee of legal scholars to produce a draft constitution by June 2011. Voters approved the resulting reforms in a referendum on the 1st of July.
The new text changed who ran the government. The prime minister, officially titled head of government, now presides over the Council of Government, a role the king previously held. The prime minister can also dissolve parliament. The king must now appoint the prime minister from the party that wins the most seats, though not necessarily that party's leader. Before, he could nominate anybody, which was usually the case when no party held a big lead.
The text also changed how the king is described. He is no longer "sacred or holy," although the "integrity of his person" is "inviolable." Ambassadors, chief executives of state-owned companies and provincial and regional governors are now appointed by the prime minister and a ministerial council the king presides over. Parliament gained the power to grant amnesty, which the king alone once held.
Cultural and personal rights widened as well. Standard Moroccan Amazigh became an official national language alongside standard Arabic, and the state undertook to protect the Hassaniya Arabic dialect. Women were guaranteed "civic and social" equality with men, where only "political equality" had been guaranteed before. The king guarantees the independence of the judicial system from the legislative and executive branches.
Some powers stayed put. The king keeps control of the armed forces, religious matters and foreign policy, and he can appoint and dismiss prime ministers. In theory, all citizens enjoy freedom of thought, ideas and artistic expression. Yet criticizing or directly opposing the king is still punishable with prison.
In June 2000, Mohammed and his sister, Princess Lalla Meryem, made a state visit to the United States as guests of President Bill Clinton. In 2004 the Bush administration designated Morocco a major non-NATO ally. A free-trade agreement followed in 2006, the only one of its kind between the United States and an African country. It drew criticism inside Morocco because of an increasing trade deficit.
The king also looked well beyond Washington. Morocco built partnerships with the Gulf Cooperation Council, China and Russia, hoping to diversify trade and investment and to limit its reliance on the European Union and other Western countries. The country offered to mediate in the Libyan crisis and stayed neutral in the Qatar diplomatic crisis.
Africa took growing priority in the later part of his reign. In July 2016, Mohammed sent a letter to the 27th African Union summit in Kigali asking for Moroccan admission. Morocco had left the Organisation of African Unity in 1984 in protest at the admission of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. He had justified that exit by saying that admitting "a non-sovereign entity, by means of transgression and collusion" led Morocco to "seek to avoid the division of Africa." Morocco was admitted to the African Union in January 2017.
On the 10th of December 2020, Morocco and Israel restored diplomatic relations in an agreement that also involved the United States. Washington recognized Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara at the same time. Morocco became the sixth Arab League country to normalize ties with Israel under the Abraham Accords. In November 2021, the king announced that Morocco would keep pushing for a restart of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. He urged both sides "to refrain from actions that obstruct the peace process."
Relations with neighbouring Algeria stayed strained despite his calls for reconciliation. In August 2021, Algeria accused Morocco of supporting the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie, which it blamed for wildfires in northern Algeria. Algeria then severed diplomatic relations.
The Western Sahara claim sits at the centre of all this. In March 2006 the government created the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs, known as CORCAS, whose members the king appoints. It proposed an autonomy plan, provided the territory remained under Moroccan sovereignty. Mohammed visited Western Sahara in 2006 and 2015.
From late 2019, several allied countries, mostly African and Arab, opened consulates in the cities of Laayoune and Dakhla, reaching 28 by 2023. In November 2020, Sahrawi protesters blocked the road linking Guerguerat to sub-Saharan Africa via Mauritania. Morocco intervened militarily to reopen it. The Polisario Front said this violated the 1991 ceasefire agreement.
In August 2022, Mohammed declared the Sahara issue the basis of Morocco's foreign policy, the lens through which it "measures the sincerity of friendships and the efficiency of partnerships." He asked other nations "to clarify their positions" and to reconsider them "in a manner that leaves no room for doubt." In 2023, Israel became the second country to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the territory, and Paraguay followed the next year.
On the 31st of October 2025, the United Nations Security Council approved Resolution 2797, endorsing Morocco's autonomy plan. Mohammed responded with a royal decree making its anniversary a national holiday.
Mohammed is described as Morocco's leading businessman and banker. Forbes put his net worth above US$5 billion in 2015, while Business Insider quoted US$2.1 billion in 2019. Together with the royal family, he holds majority stakes in Al Mada. It was formerly the Société Nationale d'Investissement, or SNI, and was originally state-owned.
In 2013, that holding merged with Omnium Nord Africain and came off the Casablanca Stock Exchange. The delisting scrapped the equivalent of 50 billion dirhams of market capitalization, roughly US$6 billion. SNI took the name Al Mada in March 2018. Its portfolio includes the bank Attijariwafa Bank, the mining firm Managem, Wafa Assurance, the hypermarket chain Marjane and the telecommunications company Wana-Inwi. It also holds Lafarge Maroc and the energy company Nareva. It is the exclusive distributor of Renault in Morocco, and its affiliate Sopriam handles Peugeot-Citroën.
Between mid-2012 and 2013, the holding sold the food companies Lessieur, Centrale Laitière, Bimo and Cosumar to foreign groups. The total came to about US$1.37 billion, or 11.4 billion dirhams.
Agriculture is another pillar, and it is exempted from taxes in Morocco. His personal holding company SIGER has shares in Les domaines, the agricultural group founded by Hassan II. In 2008, the magazine Telquel estimated its revenue at US$157 million, with 170,000 tons of citrus exported that year. It officially owns 12,000 hectares, and its best-known brand is the dairy maker Chergui.
Forbes reported the palace's daily operating budget at US$960,000. The state pays it as part of a 2.576 billion dirham annual budget, as of 2014. Much of that goes on personnel, clothes and car repairs.
Public discussion of royal business is sensitive in Morocco. A leaked US embassy cable from Rabat stated that "corruption is prevalent at all levels of Moroccan society." WikiLeaks documents published in December 2010 and quoted in The Guardian said the business interests of the king and some advisors influence "every large housing project." One cable described a businessman working for a US consortium whose plans stalled for months after he refused to partner with a company linked to the palace. A company executive tied to the royal family reportedly said that three people made the big investment decisions. They were the king, his secretary Mounir Majidi, and his close friend and former classmate Fouad Ali El Himma. In April 2016, Majidi was named in the Panama Papers.
A different kind of scandal erupted on the 2nd of August 2013, when protests broke out in Rabat. The king had pardoned 48 jailed Spaniards, among them Daniel Galván. Galván was serving a 30-year sentence for raping 11 children aged between 4 and 15. Mohammed revoked the pardon, and Morocco issued an international arrest warrant. Galván was arrested in Spain, where he kept serving his sentence.
Another pardoned man, Antonio Garcia, was a recidivist drug trafficker. He had been arrested in Tangier with 9 tons of hashish, resisted arrest with a firearm and received a 10-year sentence. Some media claimed his release embarrassed Spain.
Reports about Mohammed's marriage began before he had even been crowned. The New York Times noted conflicting accounts that he had married within hours of his father's death in 1999. The reason given was a Moroccan tradition that a king be married before he ascends the throne. A palace official later denied that any marriage had taken place.
His engagement to Salma Bennani was announced on the 12th of October 2001. They married privately in Rabat on the 21st of March 2002. Their wedding was celebrated at the Dar al-Makhzen in Rabat on the 12th and the 13th of July 2002. Bennani became princess consort with the style of Her Royal Highness. Their son, Crown Prince Moulay Hassan, was born on the 8th of May 2003, and their daughter, Princess Lalla Khadija, on the 28th of February 2007. The couple's divorce was announced on the 21st of March 2018.
Mohammed has two more sisters besides Lalla Meryem, Princess Lalla Asma and Princess Lalla Hasna. His brother is Prince Moulay Rachid. His birthday is a public holiday, though festivities were cancelled in 2014 after the death of his aunt. In 2020 he bought an 80 million euro mansion in Paris from the Saudi royal family.
His health has been a recurring topic in Morocco and abroad. In 2017, surgeons at the Quinze-Vingts National Ophthalmology Hospital in Paris removed a pterygium from his left eye. In February 2018, he underwent radiofrequency ablation in Paris to normalize an irregular heart rate, and his siblings and children visited him. In September 2019, acute viral pneumonia forced several days of rest, and Crown Prince Moulay Hassan represented him at the funeral of former French president Jacques Chirac. In June 2020, a procedure in Rabat treated a recurrence of atrial flutter.
In June 2022, Mohammed tested positive for COVID-19. His doctor said he showed no symptoms and recommended a few days of rest. Jeune Afrique reported that he caught the disease on a private visit to France. On the 10th of July 2022, he made his first public appearance since the diagnosis, performing Eid al-Adha rituals and prayers. In late 2024 he temporarily used a cane, reportedly because of sciatica. In December 2024, he underwent surgery after fracturing his left shoulder in a fall.
In September 2023, the Al Haouz earthquake killed nearly three thousand people. Mohammed visited hospitals and donated blood. By his instruction, the royal holding Al Mada gave one billion dirhams for relief in the affected regions. In May 2023, he had authorized a national public holiday for Yennayer, the Berber New Year.
Football supplied the happier occasions. After the national team finished fourth at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Mohammed awarded the players the Order of the Throne at the Royal Palace of Rabat. In March 2023, Confederation of African Football president Patrice Motsepe invited him to receive an outstanding achievement award in Kigali. Chakib Benmoussa attended on the king's behalf and read a letter announcing that Morocco would join the Portugal-Spain bid as co-host of the 2030 World Cup. The FIFA Council unanimously approved the bid in October.
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Common questions
When did Mohammed VI become King of Morocco?
He ascended the throne on the death of his father, Hassan II, on the 23rd of July 1999. His enthronement took place on the 30th of July.
What changed in the 2011 constitution?
Voters approved it in a referendum on the 1st of July 2011. Standard Moroccan Amazigh became an official language, the prime minister gained a stronger role, and the king was no longer described as sacred. He kept control of the armed forces, religious matters and foreign policy.
Why did Morocco rejoin the African Union?
Mohammed wrote to the 27th African Union summit in Kigali in July 2016 asking for admission. Morocco had left the Organisation of African Unity in 1984 and was admitted to the African Union in January 2017.
What was the royal pardon scandal of 2013?
Mohammed pardoned 48 jailed Spaniards, including Daniel Galván, which sparked protests in Rabat on the 2nd of August 2013. He then revoked Galván's pardon, and Galván was arrested in Spain to continue his sentence.
What is Al Mada?
Al Mada is a holding company, formerly the Société Nationale d'Investissement, in which the royal family holds majority stakes. It was renamed in March 2018 and has interests in banking, mining, insurance, retail, telecommunications and energy.
All sources
138 references cited across the entry
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- 23Largest State Dinner at White HouseShannon McCaffrey — 2000-06-21
- 24Twenty Years Under King Mohammed VI (Part 2): Foreign Policy DevelopmentsSarah Feuer et al. — 2019-07-29
- 25Algeria opens border to Moroccans2005-04-03
- 26NewsIn Morocco, a Rights Movement, at the King's PaceNeil MacFarquhar — 1 October 2005
- 27NewsFacing up to Morocco's hidden fearPascale Harter — 19 April 2005
- 28Morocco/Western Sahara: Amnesty International welcomes public hearings into past violationsAmnesty International
- 29Letter dated 11 April 2007 from the Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security CouncilEl Mostafa Sahel — United Nations Security Council — 11 April 2007
- 32NewsSondage interdit : "Le Monde" censuré au MarocJean-Pierre Tuquoi — 2009-08-04
- 35NewsQ&A: Morocco's referendum on reform2011-06-29
- 39nouvelle constitution. plus roi que jamaisDriss Bennani et al. — Telquel
- 41NewsFreed child rapist Daniel Galvan Vina arrested in Spain2013-08-05
- 42NewsDanielGate. Un détenu espagnol gracié 48h avant le début de son procès !7 August 2013
- 43NewsDanielGate. Pourquoi la thèse du cabinet royal ne tient plus11 August 2013
- 44Moroccan Foreign Policy Under Mohammed VI: Balancing Diversity and RespectNizar Messari — 2020-10-28
- 46Morocco to Receive $120 billion of Investments from GCC Countries in Next DecadeZainab Calcuttawala — 2016-04-20
- 49NewsHamas chief meets top politicians in Morocco after Gaza conflict17 June 2021
- 51NewsMorocco's king congratulates PM Bennett, vows to promote peace in region16 June 2021
- 54Moroccan king reaches out again for reconciliation with AlgeriaMohamed Alaoui
- 56Why Algeria cut diplomatic ties with Morocco: and implications for the futureYahia H. Zoubir — 12 September 2021
- 58King Mohammed VI Meets Gabon's President, Donates Fertilizers to GabonJihane Rahhou — 15 February 2023
- 59NewsKing Mohammed VI to Visit UAE on MondayJihane Rahhou — 2023-12-03
- 60NewsMorocco, UAE Sign Joint Declaration to Boost 'Renewed, Deep-Rooted' TiesSafaa Kasraoui — 2023-12-04
- 63NewsMorocco Launches Military Operation in Western Sahara Buffer ZoneAbdi Latif Dahir — 2020-11-13
- 65NewsIsrael recognises Moroccan sovereignty over Western SaharaAhmed Eljechtimi — 2023-07-17
- 67King Mohammed VI Declares October 31 as National Unity DayAdil Faouzi — 2025-11-04
- 69King Mohammed VI Awards Atlas Lions with Wissams at Royal ReceptionSara Zouiten — 20 December 2022
- 70King Mohammed VI To Receive CAF President Outstanding Achievement AwardSara Zouiten — 7 March 2023
- 72NewsMorocco joining Spain and Portugal in 2030 World Cup bid2023-03-14
- 74Spain, Portugal and Morocco to host FIFA World Cup in 2030 with centenary matches in South AmericaDan Palmer — 4 October 2023
- 76NewsKing Mohammed VI Visits Marrakech Hospital, Donates Blood for Earthquake VictimsOussama Aamari — 12 September 2023
- 80NewsKing Mohammed VI Makes MAD 1 Billion Donation to Earthquake VictimsOussama Aamari — 14 September 2023
- 81NewsMorocco's king appoints first woman PM following Sept 23 electionAhmed El Jechtimi et al. — 20 September 2026
- 82NewsMoroccan Royal Family Holding ONA Fires CEODouglas Greene — 24 April 2008
- 83Meet the 10 richest billionaire royals in the world right nowHillary Hoffower — 2019-07-17
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- 85NewsSNO - Le nouveau visage du business royalFahd Iraqi et al. — 14 June 2013
- 86NewsLe BusinessmanAhmed Reda Benchemsi — 18 July 2009
- 87NewsBourse: Les filiales de l'ONA boostent le marché de blocsNouaim Sqalli — 3 January 2006
- 88NewsSNI devient Al Mada, et nourrit des ambitions panafricaines2018-03-28
- 89NewsLa holding royale SNI change de nom et devient Al Mada2018-03-28
- 90NewsEnquête. Les jardins du roiFédoua Tounassi — 12 December 2008
- 91NewsBenkirane a bien augmenté le budget royal de " Sidna "Ahmed Benseddik — 12 November 2013
- 92NewsUS embassy cables: Moroccan sacking exposes king's business role6 December 2010
- 93NewsUS embassy cables: Moroccan businessman reveals royal corruption, claims US cable6 December 2010
- 94NewsPanama Papers: The Power PlayersInternational Consortium of Investigative Journalists
- 95NewsMaroc : Mohammed VI aime les îles Vierges2016-04-04
- 97Where is Morocco's Princess Lalla Salma now?2022-03-17
- 98NewsMorocco country profile16 December 2009
- 99NewsKing Mohammed VI, Ex-Wife Lalla Salma Deny Rumors of Custody ConflictJuliette Owen-Jones — 21 July 2019
- 100NewsLes Marocains condamnés à définitivement oublier Lalla Salma ?Abubakr Diallo — 22 June 2022
- 101Morocco Official, Public and National HolidaysMorocco.com
- 103NewsKing Mohammed of Morocco buys French mansion for €80 millionCharles Bremner — 9 October 2020
- 107Morocco's king suffers from acute viral pneumonia2019-09-29
- 109NewsMorocco's king tests positive for COVID2022-06-17
- 110King Mohammed VI Tests Positive for COVID-19Safaa Kasraoui — 16 June 2022
- 111NewsMorocco King Makes First Public Appearance Since COVID Recovery2022-07-10
- 113Recent Photo of King Mohammed VI Without Cane Sparks Celebration Among MoroccansFirdaous Naim — 2024-11-17
- 114NewsMorocco's king undergoes successful surgery after shoulder fracture8 December 2024
- 126NewsGuinean Pres. offers official dinner in honor of HM the King4 March 2014
- 129NewsKing Mohammed VI Awarded Grand Cross of the Order of La Pleiade25 May 2017
- 132His Majesty The King Mohammed VIEmbassy of the kingdom of Morocco to United States of America
- 133His Majesty King Mohammed VI2012-08-04
- 137CAF Grants King Mohammed VI With Excellence AwardOussama Aamari — 14 March 2023