After inheriting the throne of Morocco in 1961, King Hassan II (1929-1999) became a stabilizing force in northwest Africa.

Mouley Hassan, son of King Mohammed V, was born on July 9, 1929, taking the name of his great grandfather who was Sultan of Morocco from 1874 to 1897. He received a classical education in both French and Arabic at the palace and at the imperial college, completing his higher education in the field of law at the University of Bordeaux in France.

By training and outlook, the future king was a "modernist." He soon became weary of the decorative character of the Moroccan leadership under the French protectorate and aware of the need to build a modern and independent state. He persuaded his father to embrace the nationalist cause and, when the French arrested Moroccan activists, followed him in exile to Corsica and Madagascar (1953-1955). Yet he was also a man who upheld...