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Choosing the king
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Swazi monarchs
are always men of the
Dlamini
family, and over the course of their reign marry a number of women who are carefully selected from different clans to cement national unity. In theory, the king marries women from increasingly important families as he goes along, which means that the son of the last wife is always a strong contender for the succession. In practice, however, other wives with older sons are also in with a chance, resulting in unrest and power-struggles every time the king dies. After his death, the royal council, or
liqoqo
, selects the new
Queen Mother
, who rules as regent until her son is old enough to take charge. She usually has to work hard to ensure her position against ambitious uncles. The main advantage of this awkward process is that by the time the new king is old enough to rule, he and his mother have generally garnered enough support for him to do so effectively. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Swaziland |