 The Guard was formerly known as the Cherifian (because the King is a descendant of the Prophet Mohammad ) Guard, the name was changed to Royal Guard after Morocco gained its independence in 1956.The Guard was also unofficially referred to as the Black Guard because its members were formerly recruited from the Harratines, a black people from the southern part of the Sharifian Empire (as Morocco was called before the French colonial period).The Harratines are no longer part of the Royal Guard today.