Prince Moulay Hicham of Morocco

Moulay Hicham ben Abdallah Alaoui
Prince of Morocco

Prince Moulay Hicham pictured before a court in Casablanca
Born (1964-03-04) 4 March 1964
Rabat, Morocco
Spouse Malika Benabdelali
Issue Sharifa Lalla Faizah Alaoui
Sharifa Lalla Haajar Alaoui
Full name
Hicham ben Abdallah Alaoui
Dynasty Alaouite
Father Prince Moulay Abdallah
Mother Lalla Lamia Solh
Religion Sunni Islam

Prince Moulay Hicham of Morocco (Arabic: الأمير مولاي هشام بن عبد الله, born 4 March 1964) is the first cousin of the current King Mohammed VI and Prince Moulay Rachid. He is the son of Prince Moulay Abdallah of Morocco, the late brother of former King Hassan II, and Princess Lalla Lamia Solh, daughter of Riad Al Solh, the first Prime minister of Lebanon. He is also the cousin of Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, whose mother Mona Al Solh is another daughter of the Lebanese family. Under the Moroccan constitution, Moulay Hicham stands fourth in the line of succession to the Alaouite throne.[1]

In his youth, Prince Moulay Hicham garnered the nickname "Red Prince" because of his progressive political positions. More recently, he has become an outspoken advocate for greater democracy in Morocco[2][3] and the broader Middle East.[4][5] He regularly speaks on these issues at public forums around the world, among them the University of Málaga,[6] HEC Paris,[7] University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign,[8] Harvard University,[9] and Yale University.[10] He has also published numerous essays on political reform and democracy in English, French, and Arabic language journals and newspapers.[11][12][13] He was most recently a consulting professor at the Center for Democracy, Development, and Rule of Law at Stanford University.[14][15] He is currently based at Harvard University.[16]

Professional Activities

Personal life

As a member of the Moroccan royal family, Prince Moulay Hicham was raised in the palace quarter of Rabat alongside his brother and cousins, including the current King Mohammed VI. He attended the Rabat American School and graduated from Princeton University in 1985.[21] He later attended Stanford University for graduate study in political science. Many of these events are outlined in his memoirs, Journal d'un Prince Banni,[22] published in April 2014 to considerable controversy.[23][24]

In 2002, Prince Moulay Hicham relocated to Princeton, New Jersey with his family.[25] He is married since 1995 to Sharifa Lalla Malika Benabdelali, a cousin of the Moroccan businessman and longtime Minister of Agriculture Aziz Akhannouch. He has two daughters: Sharifa Lalla Faizah Alaoui (born 1996) who attends Yale University, and Sharifa Lalla Haajar Alaoui (born 1999) who attends Princeton University. He is currently pursuing a D.Phil. in Middle East studies at the University of Oxford.

References

Royal titles
Preceded by
Prince Moulay Rachid
Line of succession to the Moroccan Throne Next:
Prince Moulay Ismail of Morocco
as Prince Moulay Ismail
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.