“With her loincloth, feathers in her hair and pearl necklace, Mswati III, 43 years old, fifteenth fortune of the world according to the magazine “Forbes”, is an eccentric outrageous. A lover of luxury cars and decadent parties, married 13 times, he has reigned for 26 years over little Swaziland, a landlocked kingdom between South Africa and Mozambique. »
It is in these contemptuous terms, that was described in the magazine Le Nouvelle Observateur of August 09, 2012, an African king, that of Swaziland. The author of the article, Sarah Diffala, customary of the fact, begins by describing the dress code of the king, by an incredibly insulting rhetoric “with his loincloth and feathers in his hair;” then she continues the diatribe by attacking his fortune, which she implies with barely veiled, illegitimate words. And she ends with the monarch’s polygamous side, the angle of criticism favored by progressive Western intellectuals.
This description in which strong terms are used “eccentric,” … “and insulting expressions such as “feathers in the hair,” “notoriously polygamous,” sounds more like that of one of those savage Negro kings, as told by Portuguese or English explorers returning from the black continent, than that of a journalist. It is useless to continue with this tendentious article, which is in fact the reflection of a part of the Western thought towards these Africans considered eccentric, lovers of sex and women.
On the other hand, it would be interesting to engage in a similar exercise based on what is most respectful to Westerners in terms of royalty: the venerable Queen of England. This kind of criticism in facial offense mode is blessed bread for those who know a little about the centuries-old extravagances of this royal family. Here is a lady whose costume seems to come straight out of a medieval film. 72 years old, she is officially head of state of her country and of 16 other states including Canada. I don’t dare imagine what would have been written, if a Negro had so much administrative power, even if symbolic, over African territories.
Among the rights, which seen from Africa would be considered eccentric, but which are granted to the Queen of England, there is the right on rare fish. Since the twelfth century, all these species evolving in English territorial waters belong to her by right. Fishermen must declare these catches and pay a royal tax which is supposed to be donated to a foundation. Foundation belonging to his family of course.
Speaking of family, no one can marry without his permission. It is the famous “Instrument of Consent” to prevent a poor commoner from entering the family. Imagine such a law in Africa, that all the NGOs specialized in this field would be happy to do so. The Queen is also the only person in the Kingdom who does not need a driver’s license. Another peculiarity is that her cars have no license plates. Nor does she have a passport. “As British passports are issued in the name of Her Majesty, it is useless for the Queen to have one,” subtly underlines the official site of the monarchy. And since there is no identity card in the United Kingdom, the Queen has no identity papers.
And what about the royal assets, both movable and immovable, which are estimated to be worth billions of dollars, could have helped the United Kingdom in the past to get out of difficult economic times, or help to relieve the poorest popular masses. Annual million-dollar festivities, weddings and anniversaries among others, are also occasions for open-air mismanagement. And as a bonus, a way of life, maintained thanks to tax breaks, when taxes are not cancelled outright in favor of royalty.
If it is true that Mswati III, King of Swaziland is an absolute monarch who ostensibly displays his wealth and his taste for women, it is equally true that the English royal family is no less adept at an openly eccentric, retrograde and far-fetched lifestyle. Why is it shocking to see an African king riding on donkeys dressed in a loincloth with “feathers in his hair” when seeing an old lady parading around London in the carriage of Sleeping Beauty doesn’t shock anyone in the West?
