Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco

Infobox Monarch|royal|consort
name =Salma Bennani
title =Princess Consort of Morocco


caption =
consortreign =March 21, 2002 - present
spouse =King Mohammed VI
issue =Crown Prince Moulay Hassan
Princess Lalla Khadija.
royal house =Alaouite
othertitles ="HRH" The Princess Consort (2002-)
"Miss" Salma Bennani (1978-2002)
father =
mother =
date of birth =birth date and age|1978|5|10
place of birth =Fez, Morocco
date of death =
place of death =|

Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco ( _ar. الأميرة للا سلمى) born Salma Bennani on May 10 1978 is the Princess Consort of King Mohammed VI of Morocco and the first wife of a Moroccan ruler to have been publicly acknowledged and given a royal title.

Early Life and Education

Salma was born in Fes, Morocco to a primary school teacher father. Her mother died when she was three years old from then on she was raised by her maternal grandmother. She lived in Rabat with her cousin Saira, the two are commonly seen in publicShe was educated in private and public schools in Rabat. Upon completing her primary education, she qualified for an honors program that was initiated by the Ministry of National Education, which resulted in her obtaining a baccalaureate in 1995 with excellent grades in mathematics and sciences at Lycée Hassan II. Following the successful completion of a preparatory course at Lycée Moulay Youssef, Salma graduated in 2000 from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Informatique et d'Analyse des Systèmes. She received a degree in computer science and was her class valedictorian. After graduation, she worked in Casablanca as an information services engineer at the ONA Group, the country's largest private holding company, which is controlled by the Moroccan royal family.

Marriage and Children

Salma married King Mohammed VI on March 21, 2002, at the royal palace in Rabat. They have two children:

*Crown Prince Moulay Hassan born May 8, 2003
*Princess Lalla Khadija born February 28, 2007

Royal Role

Salma has kept quite a low profile as first lady of Morocco, although a more public one than her antecessors in the role, who the citizens did not normally see. She has been supporting cancer associations and the Fez Sacred Music Festival. She also met quite a number of foreign royalty during official visits to Morocco where she was the host to them or royal gatherings such as Queen Rania of Jordan, Queen Sofía of Spain, Sheikha Mozah of Qatar, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Norway, Princess Máxima of the Netherlands, Princess Mathilde of Belgium or Princess Takamado of Japan. She also represented Morocco and her husband. She has also represented the King and Morocco in meetings and gatherings such as in Thailand, Japan and France. She also founded a cancer prevention association in Morocco and has been involved in HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa work.

External links

* [http://www.salmabennani.com/ Salma Bennani Tribute Site]