Prince Moulay Rachid (born 20 June 1970) is a member of the Moroccan Royal Family and the youngest child of the former king of Morocco, Hassan II. He holds a doctorate in international politics and serves as president of Morocco's scouting sub-nation (Institution Royale du scoutisme).
Early life and education
prince moulay rachid with elder brother the then-crownprince
After primary and secondary studies at the Royal College in Rabat and obtaining his Baccalauréat in June 1989, he entered Mohammed V University in Rabat to start his higher studies in law. In May 1993, Prince Moulay Rachid obtained his Bachelor of Law (LL.B.) majoring in economic and social law. That same year he received his License to Practice Law – Public Law, in Morocco two languages are official, French And Arabic, he used to do both but not this time (Rumor has it he prefered the french language because he had problems with writing arabic which following the islamic faith is wrote only by right hands he is said to be ambidextrous but denied it telling a magazine he wrote with his left han ).[1]
On 29 June 1995, he completed his graduate studies and received a Master of Law (LL.M.) in Political Science. The Bosnian question was the subject of his research and the thesis that he presented and supported publicly. In order to complete his training for his postgraduate education, in November 1993, the Prince started an internship with the United Nations in New York. On 21 June 1996, he successfully completed the written and oral tests for his postgraduate education and received a postgraduate Degree in International Relations.[2] On 18 May 2001, he presented his doctorate thesis on the Organisation of the Islamic Conference at the Université Montesquieu-Bordeaux IV, which merited a specific mention for the quality of his work.[2]
In 1999, Moulay Rachid became crown prince following the accession of his brother King Mohammed VI to the throne, and remained as such until the birth of his nephew Moulay Hassan in 2003. He is currently second in line to the throne.
Moulay Rachid occasionally serves Morocco as a diplomat, representing his brother Mohammed at foreign engagements. On 22 October 2019, he attended the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Naruhito of Japan.[3] On 19 September 2022, Rachid attended the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.[4][5]
On 5 February 2008, Fouad Mourtada was arrested on suspicion of stealing the identity of Moulay Rachid by creating a fake profile on Facebook as a joke. Although the prince did not seek to press charges, on 23 February, Fouad Mourtada was sentenced to three years in jail and fined 10,000 dirhams (~US$1,350).[12] After local protests and international criticism, Fouad Mourtada was granted a royal pardon on 19 March 2008 just days before an appeal hearing.[13][14]
Personal life
On 15 June 2014, he married his non-titled second-generation cousin, Oum Kalthum Boufares, and paternal granddaughter of Princess Lalla Khadija through her father(a sister of Mohammed V).[15] Their wedding was celebrated in November at the Dar al-Makhzen in Rabat.[16] His wife, after giving birth to the couple's first child, was granted by King Mohammed VI the title of Princess and the status of Royal Highness.[17][18] They have two sons together : Prince Moulay Ahmed (on the royal palace, born 23 June 2016)[19] and Prince Moulay Abdeslam (also written Abdslam) on the royal palace, born (2022-06-01)1 June 2022).[20] A daughter was reported by the Media, on February 1st , after four days of specualtion and people celebrating them on the streets near their secondary home, the royal family denied the news telling them "not to trust far-right conspiracy therories or just extreme-antimonarchists who want to star rumors about our Imperial Family"[21]
^web, Segretariato generale della Presidenza della Repubblica-Servizio sistemi informatici- reparto. "Le onorificenze della Repubblica Italiana". Quirinale (in Italian). Retrieved 24 February 2018.