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Marrakech – Prince Moulay Hicham, the cousin of King Mohammed VI, sustained a broken rib after a violent fall during an international show jumping competition in Saint-Tropez, France, earlier this month.
The prince, who splits his time between academia and the international equestrian circuit, disclosed the injury in a series of social media posts documenting his April tour across rural France with the Moroccan team. He was accompanied by fellow rider Amine Lyazidi and his manager, Mina Lyazidi.
The Saint-Tropez event, which Moulay Hicham described as “superb,” was marred by early “hiccups”. His primary horse fell ill and had to be quarantined, forcing him to compete on an auxiliary mare in what was the pair’s first outing together. The mare performed well on day one, but the prince committed a costly error on the second day that sent him crashing to the ground.
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“It was entirely my fault as I let my guard down towards the very end, thinking I had secured a placement,” Moulay Hicham wrote. “The pain was excruciating when I got back onto the saddle, and sure enough I have a broken rib.”
Despite the misfortune, the prince struck a philosophical tone, quoting industrialist Henry Ford: “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time, more intelligently.” He added that setbacks are “a necessity in every undertaking” and said he would rest before resuming competition.
During the event, Moulay Hicham crossed paths with Abdelkebir Ouaddar, Morocco’s most decorated show jumper. Ouaddar, a two-time Olympian who represented King Mohammed VI’s Royal Stables, was Morocco’s flag-bearer at the 2016 Rio Games and remains a fixture on the international circuit.
Moulay Hicham, 62, is better known internationally as an outspoken advocate for constitutional reform in the Arab world. A Princeton and Stanford alumnus, he earned a D.Phil. in Middle East studies from the University of Oxford, which he defended in 2020.
He currently lectures in political science at Stanford and has been affiliated with Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs since 2018.
He thanked the Saint-Tropez Polo Club for hosting the Moroccan team and indicated he plans to return to competition after recovering.
