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The Alaouite Dynasty: the Moroccan Royal Family

The Alaouite dynasty has ruled Morocco since the seventeenth century. According to the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, King Mohammed VI is its 23rd king [3]. This is its history, based on the sources listed at the end.

The shurafa of Tafilalet

The Alaouites are a sharifian dynasty: they claim descent from the Prophet Muhammad through his grandson Hasan ibn Ali [1]. Their ancestors came from Yanbu, on the Hejaz coast, in the twelfth or thirteenth century, and settled in the Tafilalet region [1]. The Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs describes them as descended from the "Chorfa of Tafilalet, descendants of Imam Ali" [2].

The rise in the seventeenth century

The dynasty came to power with Moulay Ali Cherif, whom the ministry presents as its founder and spiritual head [2]. According to Wikipedia, Moulay al-Sharif was proclaimed sultan of Tafilalet in 1631 [1]. His son Moulay Rashid, who reigned from 1664 to 1672, unified and pacified the country after a long period of division [1]. The ministry dates the consolidation of Alaouite authority over the whole country from 1666 [2].

Note: the sources disagree on when the dynasty began. The ministry cites Mohamed Ben Ali Cherif, "proclaimed first King from 1640" [2], while Wikipedia gives 1631 for the proclamation of Moulay al-Sharif [1]. GOTHA shows both dates.

Moulay Ismail and his successors

From 1672, Sultan Moulay Ismail held absolute power. He made Meknes his capital, retook Larache and Tangier, and built diplomatic relations, including with Louis XIV [2]. He died in 1727 [2]. Later, Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah (Mohammed III) signed trade treaties with several countries, among them the United States, which he was one of the first to recognise, and founded Mogador [2].

Protectorate and independence

Under the French and Spanish protectorates, the Alaouite sultans remained symbolic rulers [1]. At independence in 1956, Mohammed V, who had supported the nationalist cause, resumed his role as head of state. In 1957 he took the title of king in place of sultan [1]. His successors, Hassan II and Mohammed VI, have kept that title [1].

King Mohammed VI

Mohammed VI was born in Rabat on Wednesday 21 August 1963 [4]. The court biography records his education [4]:

• the Koranic school at the Royal Palace from the age of four, then the Royal College, where he passed his baccalaureate in 1981;
• a law degree from the faculty in Rabat in 1985;
• a placement of a few months in Brussels in November 1988 with Jacques Delors, then President of the Commission of the European Communities;
• a doctorate in law from the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis on 29 October 1993, with a thesis on EEC–Maghreb cooperation.

As crown prince he was made coordinator of the offices and services of the General Staff of the Royal Armed Forces in 1985 and promoted to major general in 1994 [4]. His first official mission abroad, on 6 April 1974, was to represent Hassan II at the memorial service for President Georges Pompidou at Notre-Dame de Paris [4].

He became king on 23 July 1999, after the death of his father Hassan II. The ceremony of allegiance (the bay'a) was held in the throne room of the Royal Palace in Rabat [4]. On 30 July 1999 he gave his first Throne Speech and instructed that the Throne Day be celebrated on 30 July each year [3][4]. The King is supreme commander and chief of the general staff of the Royal Armed Forces [4]. His first journey abroad as king, from 25 to 28 December 1999, took him to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Tunisia [4].

The court biography also lists the foreign honours conferred on the King. Among them: on 13 December 2006 the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, awarded him the Collar of Mubarak the Great; on 15 May 2007 the President of Latvia, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, awarded him the Order of the Three Stars, Latvia's highest distinction; and on 18 May 2007 King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia awarded him the King Abdulaziz Collar [4].

Marriage and the crown prince

On 12 July 2002, Mohammed VI married Princess Lalla Salma [4]. On 8 May 2003, the Ministry of the Royal Household, Protocol and Chancellery announced the birth of Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan, named after his grandfather, Hassan II [4].

Key dates

Licence: contains material adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). This article is released under the same licence. Primary and institutional sources are summarised or briefly quoted.