The Lion and the Elephant

The symbols of the King and Queen mother are the Lion and the elephant. These are not modern symbols created for the country''s coat of arms - instead they have a tradition stretching back hundreds of years. The Queen Mother''s title, Ndlovukazi literally means the Great She Elephant. Unlike all other large mammals, in elephant groups it is the female who is dominant and leads the troop, hence the title.

The king is the lion, the top of the mammal food chain on the African savannah. Long ago one of the rites of passage was that a young warrior had to go and kill a lion in order to become a man, he then wore the claws as a necklace. King Mswati killed a lion as part of the ritual process of becoming king.