Word: thrones
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When King Sobhuza II of Swaziland died in 1982 after 61 years on the throne, the people of that tiny southern African kingdom lamented, Umntfwana sowuphumulile: the child has gone to rest. Now the slogan of the day in Swaziland (pop. 800,000) is a much more cheerful Umntfwana sowukhulile: the child has grown into...
Some of that intrigue almost seems inspired by the early reign of Louis XIV of France. Mswati, formerly known as Prince Makhosetive, officially took the throne in April of last year. For the four previous years, Swaziland had been ruled by a regent, initially Queen Dzeliwe, one of Sobhuza's 50 or more wives, though not the mother of the current King. In 1983 Prince Mfanasibili, a powerful member of the Liqoqo, or royal advisory council, masterminded Dzeliwe's ouster and replaced her with Ntombi, mother of the young King-to-be. Mfanasibili then talked the new Queen regent into...
...simple answer, of course, lies not in her person but in the position she occupies, the throne behind the power. Queen Elizabeth II need merely play her ceremonial part -- Britain incarnate -- as you or I might play King Henry V in some amateur theatrical. If Britons will die for Queen and country, they will surely live for them too; to inspire that devotion, the Queen need only be seen and not heard...
...This approach proves effective in several instances, most notably the single "Ahead." However, in the wake of their own myth, their own influence upon progressive music, Wire now sounds like just another aspiring art/synth band. Instead of the kings they once were, Wire now seem mere pretenders to the throne...
...organized by Christie's rival auction house Sotheby's. Here was a nominal contrast at least, since though everyone admires Van Gogh, none but a snob or a fantasist (not that we are short of either) could feel much nostalgia for Wallis Simpson and her husband, who abdicated the throne of England in 1936 and was obliged to spend the war years as governor of the Bahamas on account of his thinly veiled Nazi sympathies. Nevertheless, this pair of calcified drones, who wrote to each other in baby talk ("Eanum Pig" was his code for her) but never said...