Hassan II (July 9, 1929-July 23, 1999) was King of Morocco from 1961 to his death. He was the eldest son of Mohammed V, Sultan, then King of Morocco and his wife Lalla Abla bint Tahar (a.k.a Um Sidi), whom he married in 1926 as either his first or third wife.

He was exiled by French authorities in 1953 along with his father King Mohammed V, but was allowed to return in 1955, when the kingdom was established. In the unrest of 1956, he led army contingents battling Berbers in the mountains of the Rif. He was proclaimed Crown Prince in 1957, and became King after his father died in 1961. His conservative rule strengthened the Alaouite Dynasty, though it saw the annexation of Western Sahara in the "Green March" of 1975, also saw the beginnings of directly-elected parliamentary government in the kingdom. (See Politics of Morocco)

In 1972, during a second attempted coup d'etat, the Royal Moroccan Air Force mistakenly fired upon the King's plane while he was traveling back to Rabat, but failed to bring it down.

Family

The king married twice. His first wife was Lalla Fatima bint Qaid Amhourok , the daughter of a regional official, whom he married in Rabat in 1961; they had no children. He took as his second wife, also in 1961, Lalla Latifa Hammou , a Berber woman of the Zaiane tribe. With Lalla Latifa , the king had five children:

• HRH Princess Lalla Meryem
• HM King Mohammed VI
• HRH Princess Lalla Asma
• HRH Princess Lalla Hasna
• HRH Prince Moulay Rachid

See also

• List of Kings of Morocco
• History of Morocco

References and links

• Morocco Alaoui dynasty
• History of Morocco