| Intro | Moroccan royal | ||||
| Is | Noble | ||||
| From | Morocco | ||||
| Type | Royals | ||||
| Gender | female | ||||
| Birth |
Khenifra |
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| Family |
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Princess Lalla Latifa Amahzoune (Amazigh : ⵍⴰⵍⵍⴰ ⵍⴰⵟⵉⴼⴰ ⴰⵎⵃⵣⵓⵏ ; Arabic: لالة لطيفة أمحزون – born 1945 or 1946) in Khenifra is the widow of King Hassan II and the mother of Princess Lalla Meryem, King Mohammed VI, Princess Lalla Asma, Princess Lalla Hasna and Prince Moulay Rachid. She is referred to using terms such as “mother of the royal children”. The privacy accorded to her in Morocco is so great that attempts to publish photos of her in the Moroccan newspaper Al Ayam were found to violate Moroccan law (in accord with a 1956 decree prohibiting publication of photos of the king and his family without authorization).
Life
Born Fatima Amahzoune, but called Latifa (to avoid confusion with her cousin, the king’s first wife, the former Lalla Fatima bint Qaid Ould Hassan Amhourak), Lalla Latifa is the daughter of a senior Berber notable of the Zayane tribe, related to Mouha ou Hammou Zayani, and niece of the Qaid Ould Hassan Amhourak. She married Hassan II in 1961.
She is the sister of General Medbouh Hammou Amahzoune, who was executed – along with 9 other high-ranking military officers – for having widely participated in the 1971 failed coup d’état attempt against Hassan II, which took place during the King’s forty-second birthday party in his summer palace. The execution took place on 13 July 1971 and was broadcast live on state TV.
After the death of Hassan II, she married Mohamed Mediouri, the bodyguard of the late monarch and former security chief of the royal palace.