The Installation of Kings in Swaziland

In our country, a King is chosen at about the age of 11, and then he is highly educated. He is not officially installed until the age of 21. It happens like this:

The Royal Council meets to vote for a new King, normally a son of the late King's favorite wife. They sometimes ask an important member of the royal family , such as the late King's mother, to choose the new King.

On the chosen King's twenty-first birthday, he is officially installed. This is a public ceremony, and regiments from all over the country are summoned to gather in the Royal Krall, or homestead.

The new King is placed in the center, and the Queen regent announces that this is Swaziland's new King. Then, for the first time, he is greeted with the title ''Bayethe'' - a sign of loving respect.

A few men congratulate him and give him advice. He then receives emblems - an Assegai (Swazi spear) of which the handle is reshafted and washed in the gall of a black ox for each new King, a wooden staff that is believed to make the holder invisible, and a copper bracelet.

After taking the oath, the new King is officially installed.