The rich king of a poor country. On Friday, September 8, when a 6.8 earthquake hit Morocco, King Mohamed VI was in Paris on vacation. It took him almost a whole day to return to a country that was experiencing one of the worst natural disasters in years, an earthquake that he left behind. thousands of dead. The absence of Mohamed VI has been harshly criticized, as well as its decision to accept only international aid from some countries, among which France is not found.
It is precisely in France that Mohamed VI has been spending your luxurious vacation several years. In 2020, the Moroccan monarch bought a mansion in the 7th arrondissement of Pariswhere, in addition to the National Assembly, some of the best-known tourist spots in the city are located, such as the Eiffel Tower or Les Invalides, where the remains of Napoleon Bonaparte rest. The building had been owned by Prince Khalid bin Sultan al Saud, former deputy defense minister of Saudi Arabia and son of the former Saudi crown prince, and although its sale price was never made public — “both parties preferred to negotiate privately,” he explained to ‘Le Figaro’ the director of the Belles Demeures de France real estate agency and luxury real estate specialist, Marie-Hélène Lundgreen—the house was valued at 80 million eurosalthough she herself believes that it was sold for more.
The mansion in particular has about 1,600 square meters of living space and another 1,400 square meters of auxiliary areas (basement, parking, terraces…), far from the 1,000 square meters that the French press initially talked about. If it had been sold for those 80 million euros, we would be talking about about 50,000 euros per square meter. Built in 1912, The building has a dozen rooms, three floors of about 500 square meters each, and an attic. To this should be added a hairdresser, a games room, a swimming pool, a spa, a meeting room, a garden of about 300 square meters and a terrace of 230 square meters, with views of the center of Paris.
But this It is not the only building that the king of Morocco has in France. About 70 kilometers northwest of Paris, the monarch has an estate of about 70 hectares in Betz (Oise), where stands an 18th-century castle rebuilt before the First World War that was acquired by his father, King Hassan II, in 1972. The castle has one of the most beautiful gardens in all of Francedesigned by Hubert Robert and registered in the general inventory of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture and Ecology since 1991.
All castle workers have signed a confidentiality agreement that prohibits them from revealing any details on the private life of Mohamed VI, on his assets or on his properties. About 20 people work throughout the year, as explained by ‘Le Point’, but when the monarch is present the staff is multiplied by three. The salary of his employees—they are all Betz neighbors—is three or four times the minimum wage.
These are just some of the palaces of the Moroccan royal family, which has more than a dozen palaces throughout the country, in addition to several private residences.
The king’s (inherited) SNI shares and other assets
Mohamed VI inherited from his late father a 35% stake in the Société Nationale d’Investissement (SNI)now Al Mada, a holding company with stakes in different publicly traded companies, including Morocco’s main bank, Attijariwafa; the mining company Managem Group; the sugar producer Consumar or the dairy company Danone. In 2015, the estimate of Mohamed VI’s assets had increased significantly precisely due to the new value of the SNI assets, going from 2.1 billion to 5.7 billion dollars.
Also according to ‘Forbes’, the Alawite monarch owns a substantial part of the world phosphate reserves. Phosphates are essential for the manufacture of fertilizers for crops, and since their synthesis in the laboratory is impossible, the fact that Mohamed VI controls part of these reserves gives him considerable power. One of the areas where part of these phosphate reserves are found is Western Saharaprecisely a key friction point in the region.
The whims of King Mohamed VI
In 2009, news broke in the media that certainly attracted attention: King Mohamed VI rented a transporter to move your Aston Martin DB7 from Morocco to the United Kingdom, a sports car that was only ten years old at that time. Although there is no official list, it is said that he has some 600 luxury carsincluding the Mercedes Benz S500, a Range Rover and several Lexus.
Added to this, among other things, is a Swiss watch made with nearly a thousand diamonds, a Nautilus that costs more than 1.2 million of dollars. In 2019 he acquired a 70-meter-long yacht, the Badis 1, one of the most luxurious ships in the world and which had belonged to billionaire Bill Duker. The boat was valued at nearly 90 million euros.
Source: Lasexta
Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
