King of King's

"Tens of thousands of chanting, bare-breasted maidens have paraded before the King of Swaziland, many of them hoping to catch his eye and be picked out to become his 14th wife.

The annual Umhlanga, or reed dance, which finishes today at the royal residence in Ludzidzini, is a magnificent display of national tradition and pride in one of Africa's smallest countries.Officials claimed that 100,000 unmarried girls and women, almost 10 per cent of the entire population, presented the Queen Mother, or Indlovukazi meaning, "Great She-Elephant" with newly cut reeds to act as a windbreak around her compound.

As part of the ceremonies, Mswati III, Africa's last absolute monarch, is entitled to choose a new bride from among the maidens to add to his current 13 wives. It is an honour that cannot be refused"


Some of the local Swaziland women dancing for the kings love


The King himself (looks like kind of a freek if you ask me)

The real sad thing about this is Swaziland is believed to have the highest rate of HIV/Aids in the world, with two in every five pregnant women carrying the virus. Life expectancy is just over 30. A baby born in Swaziland today has almost a 75 per cent chance of dying before 40 and while all this is going down the king of this country is to busy choosing his 14th wife.
Oh and you might say to yourself, "well you cant blame him for having all of these wife's, it must be a long running tradition in Swaziland". Well the truth is the King Mswati started this "tradition" in 1999 the same year he became king!