Princess Lalla Malika (written also as Maleeka) (born; 14 March 1933 – 28 September 2021) --daughter of King Mohamed V and King Hassan II's sister -- was a Moroccan princess. For the Moroccan people, she was best known for being the last surviving Royal Family member that was sent to exile by the french occupation. She was the very last 1930s generation member of Moroccan royals to die; being the king's last Paternal relative when she died.
Biography
Lalla Malika was born at Dar al-Makhzen in Rabat and is the daughter of Mohammed V of Morocco and Lalla Abla bint Tahar.
Like her older sister Lalla Aicha, she was educated at the Lycée de jeunes filles de Rabat (nowdays Lycée Lalla Aïcha). In 1953, because of the exile of her family, first in Corsica then in Madagascar, she had to change schools. Her father and her family lived in Antsirabe and Lalla Malika became an intern in a religious college, Les sœurs de Notre-Dame-de-Cluny. She did not bear the boarding school for long, just like her brother Moulay Abdallah interned in another establishment, and left her boarding school very quickly to take private lessons, her brother too.
In 1958, Lalla Malika completed her training at the Rabat nursing school. In her honor, in the same city was inaugurated thereafter the Lalla Malika State School of Nursing.
She was the chairwoman of the Moroccan Red Crescent from 1967 until her death.
At the Dar al-Makhzen in Rabat, on 16 August 1961, she was married (in a triple ceremony with her sisters, Aisha, Fatima and their husbands) to Mohamed Cherkaoui (1921–2022), Ambassador to France 1961–1964, President of the Permanent Consultative Committee of the Maghreb 1964, Minister for Finance and the National Economy 1964–1965, for Development 1965–1966, Foreign Affairs 1966–1967, and National Defence 1967, President of the Afro-Asian Economic Co-operation.
They had the following children:
Moulay Sulaiman Cherkaoui; Moulay Omar Cherkaoui; Moulay Mehdi Cherkaoui; Lalla Rabia Cherkaoui.
Honours
Dame Grand Cordon of the Order of the Throne (Kingdom of Morocco).