Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco


Princess Lalla Salma is a princess consort of Morocco. She was married to King Mohammed VI, and the first wife of a Moroccan ruler to have been publicly acknowledged and given a royal title. After not being spotted by the media between December 2017 and April 2018, it was speculated that she had divorced and had gone into hiding.

Early life and education

She was born Salma Bennani in Fes.
Her parents were Hadj 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.

Marriage and children

Salma married King Mohammed VI on 12 October 2001 and on 21 March 2002, at the Rabat Royal Palace, Rabat, and was granted the title of Princess Lalla, with the style of Royal Highness on her marriage.

The royal couple has 2 children

Royal role

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.
Salma has represented the King and Morocco in meetings and gatherings in Saudi Arabia, Japan, Thailand, Israel, 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 in 2012 and 2013 inauguration of King Willem-Alexander.
Princess 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. Beside involved in cancer and HIV/AIDS prevention, she also supports and encourages women's empowerment.

Titles, styles, and honours

Titles and styles

Lalla Salma is styled as Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Salma.

Honours