Abd al-Hafid of Morocco

Moulay Abd al-Hafid was a son of Sultan Hassan I. An accomplished scholar and poet, he served as governor of Marrakech before being proclaimed Sultan by the religious scholars of Fez and Marrakech in 1908 in opposition to his brother Abdelaziz's concessions to European powers.

Despite his attempts to resist imperial pressures, severe economic bankruptcy and military encirclement forced him to sign the Treaty of Fez in March 1912 establishing the French protectorate. Refusing to serve as a figurehead under Resident-General Lyautey, he abdicated months later, dedicating the rest of his life to literary scholarship and theological writing in exile.