The mother of King Mohammed VI of Morocco died this Saturday June 29, 2024 in Rabat. Almost unknown to the general public, Lalla Latifa leaves behind five children and ten grandchildren.
The Moroccan royal family is in mourning. Princess Lalla Latifa, the very discreet mother of King Mohammed VI, died this Saturday, June 29 at the age of 78, announced in a press release from the Court. “In announcing this painful loss, we pray to the Almighty to surround the late deceased with His infinite mercy, divine clemency and to welcome her into His vast paradise, to grant long life to His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God preserve Him and perpetuate His glory,” declared the spokesman for the palace. The mother of the king was buried the same day, in accordance with Muslim rites, in the grounds of the royal palace in Rabat. No images have filtered from this private ceremony which brought together the entire royal family.
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Since Saturday, messages of condolence have been pouring into the palace. Neighboring country, “brother” but also rival, it was Algeria which reacted first through the voice of its president Abdelmadjid Tebboune. “I learned with sadness the news of the death of your mother, following this sad news which has left you and the royal family in mourning, I would like to present, in my name and in the name of the Algerian people, to Your Majesty, my sincere condolences,” declared the Head of State. King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar also expressed their solidarity to Mohammed VI.
A princess in the shadow of the monarchy
Born Latifat Amahzoune, descendant of an illustrious Amazigh lineage and daughter of the Pasha of Khénifra, the young girl married King Hassan II on November 9, 1961. The tradition then in place was that the Cherifian sovereign married a woman from a Berber tribe. from Bled es-Siba, regions far from direct control of power. Five children were born from this arranged marriage: Princess Lalla Meryem (1962), King Mohammed VI (1963), Princess Lalla Asmaa (1965), Princess Lalla Hasnaa (1967) and Prince Moulay Rachid (1970).
Better known in the Moroccan media as “the mother of the royal children” than by her first name, Lalla Latifa has never held an official position at Court: it was not until the marriage of her son Mohammed VI to Lalla Salma that the wife of the King of Morocco took up a public position. The mother of the king divided her time between her luxurious apartment in Neuilly-sur-Seine and her residence in Marrakech. Since the death of her husband Hassan II in 1999, Lalla Latifa shared the life of the former head of security of the palace, Mohamed Mediouri. Information never confirmed nor denied by the royal family.
