THE BOY SULTAN

Hokitika Guardian, 5 January 1928, Page 3

THE BOY SULTAN

FEZ, Nov. 20. Sidi Mohammed, tlie third son of the late Sultan of Morocco, who is to succeed his father and who will he known as Mulai Mohammed, is 18 and speaks French extremely well. He is a. goodlooking lad, tall and lithe, dean shaven, and with sparkling, dark eyes. lie is the first prince of fiis family to make the journey from Fez. to Meknes bv motor-car. He was then four years oid, and the Vizir Si Abdallah wrote a poem oil tlie accomplishment. It is stated on the highest authority that with tlie new Sultan there will he a complete change in the Imperial household. El Mokri, tlie Grand Vizier, will retain his high post, hut nearly all the other palace functionaries will be retired. The domestic life of a Sultan of Morocco is conducted on lines of extreme simplicity, according to the rules of Moslem family life. > The Sultan spends practically the whole of his time in the privacy of his apartments, to which no other man is allowed access and which are guarded at every door by eunuchs with drawn scimitars. The Sultan lives almost entirely m one room on the first floor of the palace, with a verandah looking out on the ~-miens. It is there that lie has his meals, nearly always in solitude, and transacts his work. When, however, be wishes to consult with lus Grand Vizier or other officers he has to leave his private apartments and, accompanied l»y his guard, go to the public reception rooms. At the four corners of tlie Sultan s apartments are the private apartments of the four wives he is allowed undei Mohammedan law. In each case these legitimate wives must be clierifas, that is to say. descended from the Prophet. [Mouiay Youssef, the new Sultan’s father, had 300 wives and concubines. His son lias ordered that these must leave the household.]

A PLOT AND 3 PRINCES. | FEZ. Nov. 20. The new Sultan, will, in accordance with ritual custom, remain tlyee davs at Fez in prayer on the tombs of bis ancestors, and to-morrow he will make his solemn entry into Rabat. Some amusement has been caused by tlie misadventure of the Hajib (steward of the palace) Si Abbabou. universally hated for his cruelty and avarice, who, the moment the late Sultan died, hastened in a motor-car to Marrakesh to fetch the three young princes, thinking to ingratiate himself thus with •’e lucky successor. The French authorities first checked his intrigue, and Mulwii Mahomed’s first act on succeeding to the throne was to dismiss him from his post,