Lalla Salma | |
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Lalla Salma in 2012
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Princess consort of Morocco | |
Tenure | 21 March 2002 – present |
Born |
Fes, Morocco |
10 May 1978
Spouse | Mohammed VI of Morocco (m. 2001) |
Issue |
Crown Prince Moulay Hassan Princess Lalla Khadija |
Father | Hajj Abdelhamid Bennani |
Mother | Naïma Bensouda |
Religion | Sunni Islam |
Styles of Princess Salma of Morocco |
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Reference style | Her Royal Highness |
Spoken style | Your Royal Highness |
Princess Lalla Salma born Salma Bennani; (Arabic: الأميرة للا سلمى, Amazigh: ⵍⴰⵍⵍⴰ ⵙⵍⵎⴰ;10 May 1978, Fes) is the princess consort of Morocco. She is the wife of King Mohammed VI and the first wife of a Moroccan ruler to have been publicly acknowledged and given a royal title.
She was born Salma Bennani in Fes to a middle class family.
Her parents were Hajj Abdelhamid Bennani, a schoolteacher, and 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, Hajja Fatma Abdellaoui Maâne. She lived in Rabat, with her half cousin Saira, and the two are commonly seen together in public.
She was educated in Rabat, 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).
Salma married King Mohammed VI on 12 October 2001 (the sadaq or proclamation of marriage) and on 21 March 2002 (the zafaf or celebration of marriage), at the Dar al-Makhzin, Rabat, and was granted the title of Princess Lalla, with the style of Royal Highness on her marriage.