The king is dead, long live the king. On July 25, 1999, Morocco laid its sovereign to rest amid dust and grief. Hassan II had died 48 hours earlier in Rabat, at the age of 70. His illness was no secret, yet just 10 days before his death, he had stood on the Champs-Elysées in Paris as the guest of honor at the Bastille Day parade at the invitation of his friend Jacques Chirac. Once back in Morocco, he even called the French president to request a wheel of Alpine cheese he was especially fond of.
But death came faster, stunning an entire country that he had shaped from the post-independence to the dawn of the 21st century. From 1961 to 1999, he survived the revolutionary ambitions of the left, separatist movements in the northern Rif region and coup attempts from his own military. He expanded Morocco's territory by launching the "Green March" in 1975, invading the former Spanish Sahara in the south, now known as Western Sahara. Hassan II remained in power by inspiring a mix of fear and admiration, both inside and outside the kingdom.
At the height of summer, several world leaders came to pay their final respects to this steadfast ally of the West. Among them, of course, was Chirac, who fancied himself a sort of uncle to the Alawite family. Fifteen days earlier, Hassan II had made him promise to watch over the first steps of the crown prince.
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