The King and the Queen Mother

The title of the king of Swaziland, Ngwenyama, is translated as ‘Lion’. The traditional role of the Ngwenyama is much more like that of medieval kings and barons than that of a constitutional monarch. The King is the son of the previous King but never the eldest. How the new King is chosen is not public knowledge. The King is not crowned as such, but becomes King at the culmination of secret and public rituals, for the King is at once the physical and the spiritual ruler of the Nation.

Traditionally his word is law, his health the Nation’s health, his fertility the Nation’s fertility. However, the King is not a remote ruler. Every person in the country has the right to speak to the King, although this custom of easy access is dropping away as the kig becomes the effective head of a modern state with a formal government and bureaucracy.

However the Queen Mother, or Ndlovukazi, meaning she-elephant, holds a position of co-ruler and although she is not seen to make public pronouncements or to be publicly active, she plays an important role in ruling the country. A hundred years ago the roles of King and Queen–Mother were equal, in a balanced male/female leadership. The female side has lost importance during the last century. Should a King die leaving an heir who is too young to assume power, the young Crown Prince’s mother reigns as Queen Regent and is shown the same respect and obedience as would be expected to be given to the King himself. Once the King comes of age, the Queen Regent then retires to a much less public role, but still wielding considerable power as Queen Mother, depending upon how dominant the personality of the King is. If the King’s reign is a lengthy one, as in the case of King Sobhuza II, his mother naturally will die during that time. Her role is then borne by one of the the old King’s wives, or if none are alive, one of the ruling King’s wives.