Lalla Balqis

Lalla Balqis also known as Lalla Bilqis (c. 1670 – after 1721), was an English slave concubine of Sultan Ismail Ibn Sharif (r. 1672–1727).

Life She was of English origin. In 1685, when she was fifteen years old, she and her mother were travelling to the English colony of Barbados, when their ship was attacked by Barbary pirates. They were taken to the slave market in Morocco, where she was given as a gift to Sultan Ismail. At one occasion, a group of English captives noted that when they were taken ashore to Meknès, they were offered "Rice, brackish Sherbet, and dry'd musty Fish" because Moulay Ismail's 'favourite Sultana's; an English Woman ... was that very Day brought to Bed of a Son'. As favorite, she had some influence over the Sultan, who sometimes agreed to her requests. Balqis was described as 'Affable, Courteous, and willing to do a good Turn' to anyone. It was not unknown for Europeans to keep beneficial diplomatic contacts with "Reinagodo queens", former compatriots who had been enslaved in foreign harems. In a report from 1676, Mohammed Trik, the Dey of Algiers, is noted to have been married to another former slave concubine, described as a "cunning covetous English woman, who would sell her soule for a Bribe", with whom the English viewed it as "chargeable to bee kept in her favour... for Countrysake".

During the negotiations between Morocco and Great Britain in 1721, resulting in the Peace treaty of 1722, Lalla Balqis was one of the influential harem women who was given diplomatic gifts by the British ambassador Charles Stewart.