Thami El Glaoui

Thami El Glaoui (1879 – 23 January 1956) was Pasha of Marrakesh from 1912 to 1956.¹ His family name was El Mezouari, while El Glaoui refers to his chieftainship of the Glaoua tribe of southern Morocco, based at the Kasbah of Telouet in the High Atlas and at Marrakesh.¹

Thami was born in 1879 at Telouet to Mohammed ben Hammou, qaid of Telouet, known as Tibibit, and Zouhra Oum El Khaïr.¹ After the deaths of his father in 1886 and of his eldest brother Si M'hammed the same year, his brother Si Madani took power and made Thami his khalifa (assistant).¹ In 1893 Sultan Moulay Hassan's army, caught in a blizzard crossing the High Atlas, was rescued by Si Madani, and the grateful sultan rewarded the Glaoua with honours and arms.¹

El Glaoui became head of the Glaoua upon the death of his elder brother Madani in 1918, and held the pashalik of Marrakesh from 1912 until his death.¹ As an ally of the French protectorate in Morocco, he conspired with the French in the overthrow of Sultan Mohammed V: in May 1953 he issued a statement of friendship and loyalty to the protectorate, and that August the French deposed and exiled the sultan and proclaimed Ben Arafa in his place.^{1 2}

On 25 October 1955 El Glaoui announced his acceptance of Mohammed V's restoration and of Morocco's independence.¹ He died at Marrakech on 23 January 1956, weeks before independence was formalised.^{1 2}