Few sovereigns, with the exception of the petro-monarchs of the Persian Gulf, wield as much power as the King of Morocco. His status as “leader of the faithful”, inherited from the Alawite dynasty founded in the 17th century.e century, gives it a special place. Yet since his accession to the throne on July 23, 1999, at the age of 35, Hassan II’s dolphin has long raised doubts and questions about its imprint. Monarch despite himself? King by default? The book by Christophe Ayad and Frédéric Bobin, journalists for the newspaper Le Monde, offers a fascinating insight into the depths of a monarchical system whose protagonist, long crushed by the shadow of his father, today must prepare his own succession.
“He was not a king in spite of himself, he wanted to be a king out of defiance because his father doubted his abilities,” a childhood friend of the sovereign told the authors. The whole key to this “Romance of the King,” which reads like a novel but isn’t, is here. From the very beginning, the “periodic king” is subject to the exercise of power. But this is more out of a spirit of revenge than out of real personal appetites. Because no current ever passed between father and son. Everything is against them. Hassan II was an autocrat as tyrannical as he was charming and brilliant on television. Mohammed VI is a shy party animal who is content to read his speeches and hates ceremonial traditions worthy of the Middle Ages.