 France started to send ships to Morocco in 1555, under the rule of Henry II, son of Francis I.

France, under Henry III, established a Consul in Fes, Morocco, as early as 1577, in the person of Guillaume Bérard, and was the first European country to do so.Under Henry, France named Guillaume Bérard as the first Consul of France in Morocco.Bérard, a doctor by profession, had saved the life of the Moroccan prince Abd al-Malik, during an epidemic in Istanbul; when he came to the Moroccan throne, Abd al-Malik wished to retain Bérard in his service.