Mohammed ben Hadou

Who is Mohammed ben Hadou?

Mohammed ben Hadou, also Mohammad bin Hadou, Mohammad bin Hadu or Muhammad ben Haddu al'Attar, was a Moroccan ambassador sent to the English court of Charles II by Muley Ismail in 1681-82. According to the contemporary English commentator John Evelyn, he was the son of an English woman.

He arrived in England on 29 December 1681, and left on 23 July 1682. He spent six months in England, in a highly commented visit. His visit was publicized in the London Gazette and he was the subject of occasional poems. He visited Oxford, Cambridge and the Royal Society among many other places. These exchanges started 40 years of a shifting Anglo-Moroccan alliance related to European conflicts, trade issues, Barbary Coast pirates and the exchange of captives. Mohammed returned with a draft Peace and Trade Treaty which was finally not ratified by his king because of outstanding issues regarding the English military presence in Tangiers and English captives in Morocco.

John Evelyn recorded that he was "the fashion of the season", and commented on him that he was "a handsome person, well featured and of a wise look, subtile and extremely civile". At the theater the ambassador behaved "with extreme modesty and gravity". He struck a magnificent figure riding in Hyde Park.