A viral tweet highlighting the behavior of Morocco’s 22-year-old Crown Prince, Moulay El Hassan, has sparked renewed international curiosity over a fascinating, long-running piece of North African royal etiquette.
Observant spectators have noted that during official reception lines, the young heir to the Alaouite throne swiftly, almost reflexively, pulls his hand away the exact millisecond a dignitary attempts to bow and kiss it, preferring a standard, modern handshake instead.
While Western onlookers often interpret the lightning-fast hand withdrawal as a sign of annoyance, the gesture is actually a highly orchestrated dance of deep-seated cultural reverence and a deliberate push for modernization.
The Cultural Paradox: The Humility of Rejection
In traditional Moroccan court protocol (ba’ya), kissing the hand of the monarch or members of the royal family has served for 12 centuries as the ultimate public display of loyalty, respect, and recognition of the dynasty’s spiritual legitimacy.
However, within Arab and Islamic etiquette, the act of allowing someone to lower themselves to kiss your hand can carry an undercurrent of hubris.
The Dynamics of the “Anti-Protocol”: By rapidly retracting his hand before lips can make contact, Prince Moulay El Hassan is practicing a deeply understood form of cultural humility. The unspoken exchange effectively signals: “I recognize your gesture of deep respect, but I do not view myself as superior enough to allow you to lower yourself before me.”
Because the gesture happens so quickly, dignitaries who are socially obligated by tradition to attempt the kiss often end up bowing forward and inadvertently kissing their own thumbs or empty air—a standard, expected outcome of modern Moroccan diplomatic lines.
A Generational Shift Toward Modernization
The Crown Prince’s aversion to the traditional hand-kiss is not a new habit; videos of him deploying this exact, lightning-fast reflex first went viral globally in 2016, when he was just a 12-year-old boy attending official military and state functions in tailored suits.
The Moroccan Royal Approach to Hand-Kissing
King Hassan II (Grandfather): ████████████████████ Enforced traditional hand-kissing rigidly.
King Mohammed VI (Father): ██████████░░░░░░░░░░ Relaxed the rule; occasionally pulls back.
Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan: █░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Consistently rejects the kiss for a handshake.
This evolution marks a deliberate, multi-generational effort to modernize the public image of the Moroccan monarchy:
- Breaking from the Past: The Prince’s grandfather, King Hassan II, ruled with an iron fist and strictly demanded the traditional kiss as a mandatory show of total fealty.
- The Transition: The current monarch, King Mohammed VI, began loosening the rigidity of the court protocol upon taking the throne, occasionally withdrawing his hand for older ambassadors or highly respected statesmen as a sign of mutual honor.
- The Modern Standard: As a young leader representing the future of the nation, Moulay El Hassan has made the Western handshake his absolute baseline.
By prioritizing a firm, eye-to-eye handshake over a submissive historical custom, the Crown Prince manages to preserve his status as a royal trendsetter while remaining deeply aligned with the modernizing expectations of a younger Moroccan electorate.
22 yaşındaki Fas Veliaht Prensi, elini öpmeye kalkışanların yüzüne bile bakmazken, sadece tokalaşanlarla uzun süre sohbet ediyor…pic.twitter.com/E5CFmjftd6
— Korutürk Bey (@KoruturkBey) June 1, 2026
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