Explore two of the last ruling monarchies in the world
Story by Jacob O’Gara & Baylea O’Brien
SWAZILAND
“I learned from a very early age that the only way to escape the sadness was to get an education,” Millicent Loddunea* says. Loddunea grew up in rural Swaziland, a small monarchy nestled between South Africa and Mozambique. Her parents divorced when she was young. Since the Swaziland government does not allow women rights to assets, Loddunea’s father left her mother penniless, homeless, and responsible for raising her and her brother.
Even with a rocky family situation, Loddunea grew up in a humble community full of caring and generous Swazis.
“Even when they don’t have much, the little they have they share,” Loddunea says.
Despite her financial disadvantage, her persistence in school paid off when she earned a scholarship to study abroad in Singapore. Breaking away from Swaziland’s monarchy gave Loddunea an entirely new perspective.
“There is no freedom of speech in Swaziland,” Loddunea says. “They do not want this monarchy—that is what people say behind closed doors.”
Now, 5,000 miles from home, Loddunea does what many Swazi’s fear: She voices her opinion.
Likewise, Masia Tahri’s family moved from Zambia to Swaziland in the 1960s when the British government transferred her father’s job to the neighboring country. In Zambia, Tahri was conditioned to simple commodities such as electricity and paved roads. In comparison, Swaziland, was much less developed. Then, in 1968, Swaziland gained independence from Great Britain, which transformed the small country into what many call the world’s last absolute monarchy.
In 2005, Swaziland ratified its very first constitution to make a step forward into a new and more modern governmental system by adding judicial, legislative, and executive branches. Although Swaziland’s government structure modernized, the royal family still reigns over the land. The local media are owned and monitored by the monarchy. Miniskirts, most outside media sources, and unauthorized pictures of the royal family are prohibited.
Business conglomerates in Swaziland are primarily maintained by the monarchy. “The royal family owns almost the whole of Swaziland. Even if one is not a member by blood, the royal family will adopt any successful businessperson,” Loddunea says.
Swaziland’s current monarch, King Mswati III, is notorious for his lavish spending, despite the fact that the majority of the country’s population survives on less than a dollar a day. In 2002, Mswati planned to buy a $50 million luxury jet, totaling a fourth of Swaziland’s national budget. After numerous protests on behalf of the Swazi people, the king reluctantly abandoned the idea.
Although Mswati did not receive his jet, he invested roughly $3.5 million to celebrate Swaziland’s forty years of independence and his fortieth birthday. The royal family purchased a fleet of BMWs for themselves and friends, as well as a shopping spree in Dubai for the king’s fourteen wives.
Controversy and corruption run deeper than Mswati’s pocket of personal expenses. Loddunea recalls when a young Swazi was arrested for wearing a People’s Democratic Movement T-shirt. Since free speech is illegal in Swaziland, he was thrown into jail for speaking out against the monarchy.
When the young man died in prison, officials pronounced it an act of suicide, but Loddunea and other Swazis remain skeptical, since many citizens are uninformed of what happens behind the royal family’s doors.
“In SiSwati [the national language] they say ‘Kukhutwa lubayethe,’ which basically means once the king has spoken there is no going against his word,” Loddunea says.
Despite Swaziland’s heavily criticized government, the country’s beauty lies in its generous civilians and astounding natural features. Tourism boosts Swaziland’s economy every year while Swazis continue to create intricate crafts such as artwork, candles, and glasswork native to the country. “I would say creative talent is Swaziland’s best kept secret,” Tahri says.
While the urge for change secretly creeps behind Swaziland’s closed doors, the country’s next decision lies solely in the hands of the royal family.
BHUTAN
Sandwiched between the Republic of India and the People’s Republic of China, the Kingdom of Bhutan looks like a Norman Rockwell painting — if Rockwell was a Buddhist who hailed from South Asia. From the architecture to the traditional dress required at state functions, the Bhutanese people display a kind of fifteenth-century idyllic lifestyle.
The majority of the population practices a form of Buddhism that has been in the country since its introduction in the seventh century. Buddhism and Hinduism are officially recognized state religions, and their influence shows in government policies: there are no executions in Bhutan, health care is free, the level of national happiness is measured by state officials, and protecting the environment is one of the four guiding “pillars” of the state. The Bhutanese people – who refer to themselves as the Drukpa, or Dragon People – have been ruled by the patriarchs of the Wangchuck dynasty since 1907. Yet despite centuries of stability, the political ground in Bhutan is shifting fast.
In 1999, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck lifted the ban on Internet and television, which had been trickling into Bhutan via secretly installed satellite dishes. Though it came with the caveat that “misuse” of these innovations could wither away traditional Bhutanese values, the king was praised for taking such a critical modernizing step.
Six years later, King Jigme became the first monarch to step down from the throne in Bhutanese history. After ruling the country since 1974, he presented a draft for a new constitution and new form of government.
“His Majesty ordered an emergency cabinet meeting and everyone was shocked,” says Karma Tshering, a Bhutanese immigrant living in Eugene. A draft of the constitution was sent to every household in Bhutan, and King Jigme personally visited each village, including the one Tshering lived in until 2008, explaining his motivation and the principles of democratic government.
“We were confused,” Tshering says. “We were happy. We love our king. Bhutan is a ship between two big islands [India and China] and the king is our captain. He’s very far-sighted, loves his country, and he looks around.”
One thing he looked at was Nepal, a similarly Buddhist monarchy that morphed into a republic. However, that transition was ugly and blood-soaked, initiated by the 2001 massacre of the Nepalese royal family by one of the king’s sons. The country slipped into chaos. In 2008, the kingdom emerged from the civil war and became a republic, governed by a Maoist ruling party. King Jigme did not want Bhutan to share the same fate.
Two years ago, Bhutan officially transformed from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional one and held its first general election, an election without the background noise of gunfire.
King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, one of the youngest monarchs in the world at age twenty-eight, was crowned later that year, the head of a country far different from the one ruled by his forefathers—a Bhutanese state with Internet and television, a parliament, two political parties, and a constitution. What was once one of the last absolute monarchies on the planet is now one of the newest democratic states.
Though Bhutan now has many captains, the ship sails on.
*Editor’s Note: names have been changed to protect the safety of sources.
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