Moroccan Royal Guard

Moroccan Royal Guard الحرس الملكي المغربي
Active	1088
Country	Morocco
Allegiance	King of Morocco
Type	Army
Size	6,000
Part of	Royal Moroccan Armed Forces
Commanders
Commander	General Mimoun Mansouri

The Moroccan Royal Guard (Arabic: الحرس الملكي المغربي‎‎, French: Garde royale marocaine, Spanish: Guardia Real Marroquí) is officially part of the Royal Moroccan Army. However it is under the direct operational control of the Royal Military Household of His Majesty the King. The sole duty of the guard is to provide for the security and safety of the King and royal family of Morocco.

The Royal Guard traces its origins to the prestigious Black Guard that was created in 1088 by the Almoravid ruler Yusuf ibn Tashfin as his personal guard. This recruitment tradition was continued by the Almohads through the 15th century. The Alaouite Sultan Moulay Ismail reorganized the Black Guard into permanent infantry and cavalry units at the beginning of the 18th century. He called upon Bambara men who had just converted to Islam, making them take an oath of service on the collection of hadith of the Imam Bukhari. For this reason they were also known as the "Army of Bukhara" or the Boukharis.

The Guard was formerly known as the Cherifian (because the King is a descendant of the Prophet Mohammad ) Guard, the name was changed to Royal Guard after Morocco gained its independence in 1956. The Guard was also unofficially referred to as the Black Guard because its members were formerly recruited from the Harratines, a black people from the southern part of the Sharifian Empire (as Morocco was called before the French colonial period). The Harratines are no longer part of the Royal Guard today.

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Wikipedia