Hassan I of Morocco

Hassan bin Mohammed was born in 1857 or 1836 to Mawlay Muhammad IV whom he was the favourite son of. At an early age, he was educated in the subtleties of court politics.

Appearance and personality

Italian traveller Edmondo De Amicis gave a description of Hassan I:

This Sultan... was the handsomest, most attractive young man who ever won an odalisque’s heart. He was tall, active, with large, soft eyes, a fine aquiline nose, dark, oval face, and a short, black beard. His expression was at once noble and melancholy. A white haïk [cloak] enveloped him from head to foot... the large and entirely white horse he rode had green housings, and the stirrups were of gold. All this whiteness and the long, full cloak lent him something of a sacerdotal air.... His graceful bearing, his expression, half-melancholy, half-smiling; his subdued, even voice, sounding like the murmur of a brook; in short his entire appearance and manner had a something [ sic ] ingenuous and feminine, and yet, at the same time, a solemnity that aroused instinctive admiration as well as profound respect.

Family and personal life

Hassan I married eight times and had a harem of concubines. His descendants, beginning with his wives, were as follows:

Princess Lalla Zaynab bint Abbas whom he married in 1875. Together they had:

Sidi Mohammed the eldest son of Moulay Hassan I, he was his father's heir until his rebellion, when he was evicted;

Moulay Zain al-Abdine.

Lalla Aliya al-Settatiya, Together they had:

Sultan Moulay Abd al-Hafid.

Lalla Khadija bint al-Arbi, together they had:

Moulay Abderrahmane;

Moulay al-Kabir.

Lalla Zohra bint al-Hajj Maathi, together they had:

Moulay Bil-Ghayth;

Moulay Abou Bakar.

Lalla Ruqaya. Originally, a Circassian slave concubine purchased from Hajj Lʿarbi al-Humaydi Bricha alongside another Circassian concubine, Amina. She became Hassan's favorite wife towards the end of his life and held political influence after his death. Their children are:

Lalla Oum Kelthoum;

Lalla Nezha;

Sultan Moulay Abdelaziz;

Lalla Chérifa;

Moulay Abdelkébir.

Lalla Kinza al-Daouia: she divorced from the sultan and remarried to Abdallah al-Daouia then to Mohammed el-Talba. From her marriage to the sultan, she had:

Moulay al-Mamun, he is the father of Princess Lalla Hanila bint Mamoun;

Moulay al-Amin;

Moulay Othman;

Moulay Mohammed al-Anwar.

Lalla Oum al-Khair, her last name is not retained; together, they had:

Moulay Abdallah, he died on December 15, 1883;

Moulay Jaafar;

Sidi Mohammed el Sghir;

Moulay Talib;

Lalla Oum Zayda, her last name is not retained; together, they had:

Moulay Mohammed al-Mehdi;

another son named Abdallah;

Lalla Abla.

Sultan Moulay Hassan I is also the father of:

Princess Lalla Fatima Zahra (died in 1894), a woman of letters and faqīha who donated a large part of her princely literary collection for the library of the University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez.

Moulay Hassan I had a harem of slave concubines (jawari), but the precise number of his slave concubines is largely unknown, leaving room for speculation.

Aisha (Ayesha): she was a slave concubine of Georgian origin. Purchased in Istanbul in 1876 by the vizier Sidi Gharnat, she was the favorite of Sultan Moulay Hassan I during the sixteen years she remained in his harem.

Amina was a Circassian concubine bought alongside Lalla Ruqayya from Hajj Lʿarbi al-Humaydi Bricha. She was the mother of Yusef of Morocco

Suchet adds a "batch" of four other Circassian women of great beauty and accomplished talents purchased for 100,000 francs in 1878 in Cairo and another three other Circassian slave concubines, without further details.