Mohammed VI of Morocco

Biography

Mohammed VI was born in Rabat in 1963, the eldest son of King Hassan II. He was educated at the Quranic school and the Collège Royal inside the royal palace, took a law degree at Mohammed V University in 1985, and later earned a doctorate in law in Nice with a thesis on relations between the European Community and the Maghreb. As crown prince he represented his father on official occasions and held senior rank in the Royal Moroccan Army.

He became king on his father's death in July 1999. Early in his reign he dismissed the powerful interior minister Driss Basri, set up the Equity and Reconciliation Commission to examine abuses under Hassan II, and in 2004 introduced a new family code that widened women's rights.

During the Arab Spring protests of 2011 he proposed a new constitution, approved by referendum that July, which gave more powers to parliament and the head of government and made Amazigh an official language, while leaving the king in control of the military, religion and foreign policy. In foreign affairs he pursued Morocco's claim to Western Sahara, brought the country back into the African Union in 2017, and in 2020 agreed to normalise relations with Israel in a deal under which the United States recognised Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.