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afrol News, 27 October - The unconventional announcement of next year's Moroccan royal wedding makes national and international headlines. While the private of the royal family traditionally has been an anathema for the national press, King Mohammed VI has shown unheard-of openness in what has been called a "royal charm offensive". Mohammed VI, who is seen as keen to give the Moroccan monarchy a more modern face, unlike his father announced his engagement with a commoner on 12 October, also confirming a royal wedding was to take place early 2002. His father's matrimony to his first of two wives, Fatima, was only made public when his second wife, Latifa, expected children. Given the announcement and the fact that the King's fiancée, Salma Bennani, is a qualified engineer and career women, press speculations are high further traditions will be broken. Journalists ask whether the wedding might be a public ceremony, whether King Mohammed will break with tradition of polygamy (his father had two wives) or whether Miss Bennani even might be crowned as Morocco's first Queen. Mohammed's mother only had the title of "mother of the royal children". The King's personal engagement for gender equality might indicate this. Mohammed VI is seen as a moderniser in Moroccan politics, keen on symbolic acts. International speculations the King's openness might lead to further breaks with Moroccan traditions are however contradicted by the publicity the royal engagement has been given in Morocco. While the event has caused a storm of international headlines, it has barely been mentioned in the Moroccan press. Moroccan news agency Maghreb Arabe Presse commented the news in two lines, referring to a statement by the royal household. Sources: Press reports and afrol archives
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