King Sobhuza II, was the Paramount Chief, and later King of Swaziland for 82 years and
254 days, the longest verifiable reign of any monarch in recorded history.
He was born, Ingwenyama Sobhuza, on 22 July 1899, at Zombodze Royal Residence.
He was the son of Inkhosikati Lomawa, and King Ngwane V. When he was only four months
old, his father died suddenly, while dancing incwala.
Sobhuza was chosen king soon after that, and his grandmother, Labotsibeni Mdluli, and his
uncle, Prince Malunge, led the Swazi nation until his maturity in 1921.
Sobhuza led Swaziland through independence until his death in 1982.
He was succeeded by King Mswati III, his young son, with Inkhosikati Ntfombi Tfwala, who
was crowned in 1986.
Ingwenyama Sobhuza was educated at the Swazi National School, Zombodze, and at the Lovedale
Institution in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, before assuming the Swazi throne as paramount
chief at the age of twenty-two when power was formally transfered to him on 22 December
1921.
King Sobhuza presided over Swaziland's independence from the United Kingdom in 1968, after which
the British government recognised him as King of Swaziland.
Early in his reign, he sought to address the problem of land partition and deprivation,
instituted by the British authorities in 1907.
He did so by first leading a delegation to London, to meet with King George V, and petition
him to restore the lands to the Swazi people.
He again took his case on the land issue in 1929 to the Privy Council.
He was defeated by the terms of the Foreign Jurisdictions Act, which effectively placed
the actions of British administrations in protectorates beyond the reach of the British
courts.
Sobhuza's role during this colonial period was for the most part ceremonial, but he still
had major influence as a traditional head of the Swazi nation.
In 1953 he attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in London.
In the early 1960s, Sobhuza played a major role in events that led to independence for
his country in 1968.
He opposed the post-colonial Westminster constitution proposed by the British government, in which
he was assigned the role of constitutional monarch.
As a consequence, acting through his advisory council, he formed the Imbokodvo National
Movement, a political party, which contested and won all seats in the 1967 pre-independence
elections.
He became recognized by the British as King of Swaziland in 1967 when Swaziland was given
direct rule.
Independence was achieved on 6 September 1968.
Following this, Sobhuza skilfully blended appeal to tribal custom, with a capacity to
manage economic and social change for his kingdom.
On 12 April 1973, the king repealed the constitution, and dissolved parliament, henceforth exercising
power as an absolute monarch.
In 1978, a new constitution was promulgated, which provided for an elaborate reversion
to a tribal mode of rule, involving an electoral college of eighty members, chosen by forty
local councils known as tinkhundla, dominated by tribal elements.
The Swazi economy prospered under Sobhuza's leadership.
Swaziland is rich in natural resources, and much of the land and mineral wealth originally
owned by non-Swazi interests was brought under indigenous control during Sobhuza's reign.
King Sobhuza celebrated his Diamond Jubilee in 1981.
At this time, he had successfully restored, and indeed strengthened the monarch's role
as the chief arbiter of decision-making in his kingdom.
In the early 1980s King Sobhuza attempted to acquire control over KaNgwane, a Bantustan
set up by the South African government, in an attempt to reunite all Swazi people, separated
by the colonial boundary.
He died on 21 August 1982 at Embo State house, at the age of 83.
Sobhuza's official incumbency of 82 years and 254 days is the longest precisely dated
monarchical reign on record and the world's longest documented reign of any sovereign
since antiquity.
Known as, the honorific "Bull of Swazi", by virtue of his numerous progeny, King Sobhuza
continued the tribal practice of maintaining many consorts.
According to the Swaziland National Trust Commission, King Sobhuza II married 70 wives,
who gave him 210 children between 1920 and 1970.
About 180 children survived infancy, and 97 sons and daughters were reported living as
of 2000.
At his death he had more than 1000 grandchildren.
Sobhuza died in 1982, having appointed Prince Sozisa Dlamini to serve as 'Authorized Person',
advising a regent.
Selection of a successor was confirmed only after King Sobhuza's death, a regent being
necessary if the heir remained under age at that time.
By tradition, the regent would be one of the queens consort, who had borne the late king
a son.
The first regent was Queen Dzeliwe, but after a power struggle, Sozisa deposed her, and
she was replaced by Queen Ntfombi.
Ntombi reigned on behalf of her young son by King Sobhuza, Prince Makhosetive Dlamini,
who was designated as Crown Prince.
He was crowned King Mswati III in 1986.
One of Sobhuza's sons-in-law was Goodwill Zwelithini, King of the Zulus of South Africa,
who married the Swazi king's daughter, Princess Mantfombi, born at Siteki in 1956, and betrothed
in 1973, at Nongoma in June 1977.
Another in-law is, Zenani Mandela, the daughter of former South African President Nelson Mandela,
who belonged to a cadet branch of the Thembu dynasty, which reigns as paramount chiefs
in the Transkei.
She wedded King Sobhuza's son, Prince Thumbumuzi Dlamini who, although an older half-brother
of Mswati and Mantfombi, did not inherit the Swazi throne, instead launching, with his
wife, an enterprise in the United States.
Swazi people who lived during the reign of King Sobhuza, remember him with nostalgia,
expressly indicating that he was the very embodiment of the Swazi nation, the people
and the land.
He is really loved by the people, and they describe him as wise and progressive king.
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