First Ladies Duniani: Princess Lalla Salma

Thursday 19 September 2013

Princess Lalla Salma

Princess Lalla Salma is the princess of consort of Morocco. She is the wife of King Mohammed VI of Morocco. She was born Salma Bennani on 10 May 1978 in Fes. Salma was born to al-Haj Abdel Hamid Bennani, a school teacher. Her mother Naima, nee Bensouda died when she was three years old; from then on she and her sister were raised by her maternal grandmother. She was educated in Rabat, where she attended a private school, Lycee Hassan II, Lycee Moulay Youssef, and L'Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Informatique et d'Analyse de Systemes. 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.

She married King Mohammed VI on 12 October 2001 (sadaq) and on 21 March 2002 (zafat) at the Dar al-Makhzin, Rabat, and was granted the title of Princess with the style of Royal Highness on her marriage. The additional title Lalla is a traditional honorific for high-born and royal women that approximately corresponds to the western "Lady" for noble women.

Princess Lalla Salma is the mother of 2; HRH Crown Prince Moulay Hassan (born 8 May 2003) and HRH Princess Lalla Khadija (born 28 February 2007).

Princess Lalla Salma is the founder of a Cancer prevention association in Morocco and has been involved in HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa work.