King Mswati III was born on April 19th 1968 at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital in Manzini, Swaziland. His father was the late King Sobhuza II and his mother, Queen Ntfombi, who is now the Queen Mother.  

King Mswati III currently has 15 wives and 23 children.  His father had more than 125 wives during his reign of 82 years. Last year spending £13m on cars for them 

Mswati was named as the Crown Prince in September 1983. He was crowned King in 1986 aged just 18-years-old. This made him the youngest living reigning monarch until King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan ascended to the Bhutanese throne in December 2006. King Mswati III was also the youngest head of state in the world until the Democratic Republic of the Congo named Joseph Kabila as President in 2001 when he was 29 years old. 

After the death of a Swazi king, his successor is decided by a special council called the Liqoqo. Its job is to decide which of his wives is to be appointed “Indlovukazi”, or Great She-Elephant, and to be the mother of the next king. The wife must be of good character, have only one son and not have the maiden name of Nkhosi-Dlamini. 

King Mswati III is the last absolute monarch of Africa.  He appoints the country’s prime minister and some representatives in the lower and upper chambers. 

In April 2018, King Mswati III of Swaziland announced that he was renaming the country “the Kingdom of eSwatini” the name it went by prior to British colonialism. The monarch announced the official change in a stadium during celebrations for the 50th anniversary of Swazi independence. The celebrations also marked the king’s 50th birthday.