Mohammed V of Morocco

Mohammed al-Khamis became sultan at eighteen when his father died in 1927. Early on, his approval of the Berber Dahir ignited nationalist anger and opposition to French rule. During World War II he sided with the Allies, attended the 1943 Anfa Conference, and reportedly stood between Vichy authorities and Morocco's Jewish population, insisting they remained under the crown's protection. After the war he emerged as the face of independence: his 1947 speech in Tangier openly demanded freedom and tied Morocco to the Arab world. The French, watching control slip, deposed him in 1953 and exiled him first to Corsica, then Madagascar, installing a cousin in his place. The move backfired - violence flared, and two years later the French let him return. In 1956 he negotiated independence from France and Spain, assumed the title of king the following year, and ruled until his death in 1961 at fifty-one, succeeded by his son Hassan II.