We Too Have A Royal Family
A glimpse of his majesty the King of Morocco!
As you may already know, King Charles III of England got crowned last Saturday and it caused a BIG commotion around the world. We witnessed history and to be honest, I was amazed by how traditional it went.
I was also in awe of how everyone (almost) loved the royal family and cared about every little detail of their lives. I personally have been following their every move ever since I was old enough to understand the tragic passing of Princess Diana.
I have consumed every piece of media they had offered. I even read Spare by Prince Harry and loved it (#teammegan). I craved to know more about the royals. I think I was always interested in every Royal Family in history, except mine for some reason I yet do not know.
While I was watching the coronation, I looked around for Her Majesty Princess Lalla Meryem. And it hit me so hard, I closed my laptop and took a nap to recover; I too have a royal family to love and obsess over.
Last night, I went into a rabbit hole that started from looking for the coronation of His Majesty, King Mohammed VI, and ended with me reading about his entire family bloodline.
I was in awe. And I’m pretty sure I teared up a bit. I felt so mad at myself for ignoring a great piece of history.
My dad and I always got into a debate about how the country has changed since the King was crowned in 1999 following his late father, His Majesty King Hassan II. I always pointed out how the current King has put Morocco on the map.
Did you know that the king’s family, The Alawi family, is a direct descendant of the prophet Muhammed? Yep, I didn’t know that either. And that They have been ruling Morocco since the 17th century? Maybe I was supposed to learn all about this in school. I honestly barely remember my life from the ages of 6 to 17. So I’m to blame for my ignorance.
Furthermore, being a third-world country, Morocco lacked a bit in the human rights department in the last century. By changing Al Moudawana (the Family Code), The king changed the human (especially women) rights game altogether.
I don’t want to go all political (this is not that kind of article). But I think I made a point? If not, I advise you to read about all the changes that happened since the king’s reign started.
Another fun fact that I’ve known for a while is that Morocco is one of the richest countries in Africa! That says a LOT about our economy and way of life.
A lot of people hear “Africa” and think of those dried-up Sahara pictures they saw in Western movies. Not only is that wrong but quite offensive as we have almost everything the rest of the world has.
An American friend told me that before he came to Morocco he thought he was coming to some deserted country with camels and donkeys around… He later had a small crisis when he arrived in Casablanca, the economic capital, and was met with everything he left behind in the US.
I think my ignorance of the Moroccan Royal Family was influenced by my social media addiction. It felt different to gawk at a different royal family because whenever I opened my phone, I was met with hundreds of videos about the UK royals. If I had opened a newspaper or even turned on the TV once in a while, I would have learned about my own country as well.
I know that this was SO different from what I usually write, but I wanted to use my platform to remind people all over the world that the UK royal family isn’t the only one out there. We too have a royal family we love and adore. We too have a long-lasting monarchy. We too have a history that can’t be ignored or silenced.
All anyone needs to do to learn more is a simple Google search. It’s sad that with all this online flood of information, a lot of us are still ignorant!
Until next time, long live the King!
