'' Lalla'' Salma (born Salma Bennani, ar, سلمى بناني, 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. 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 Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...

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,

Hajj The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...

a Fatma Abdellaoui Maâne. She lived in

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populati ...

, with her half cousin Saira, and the two are commonly seen together in public. She was educated in

, 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 The Alawi dynasty ( ar, سلالة العلويين الفيلاليين, translit=sulālat al-ʿalawiyyīn al-fīlāliyyīn) – also rendered in English as Alaouite, Alawid, or Alawite – is the current Moroccan royal family and reigning d ...

Marriage and children

Lalla Salma got engaged to King Mohammed VI 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

Issue

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. Lalla Salma has represented the King and Morocco in meetings and gatherings in Saudi Arabia,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, Thailand,

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

, 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 The wedding of Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy took place on 19 and 20 October 2012. A civil ceremony was held on 19 October followed by a Roman Catholic wedding ceremony at Notre-Dame Cathedral ...

in 2012 and 2013 inauguration of King Willem-Alexander. 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 prevention in Africa. In 2006, Princess Lalla Salma was named a Goodwill Ambassador of the World Health Organization 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 of Spain (14 January 2005). * Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit of Senegal (1 December 2008). * Gold Medal of the World Health Organization (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 The South American land mammal ages (SALMA) establish a geologic timescale for prehistoric South American fauna beginning 64.5 Ma during the Paleocene and continuing through to the Late Pleistocene (0.011 Ma). These periods are referred to as a ...

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