Incumbent and Family
The present head of the Zulu Royal Family is King Goodwill Zwelethini kaBhekuzulu, the current monarch of the Zulu nation of South Africa. He was born on the 14 July 1948, in Nongoma, KwaZulu-Natal. He became king on the death of his father, King Cyprian Bhekuzulu kaSolomon in 1968.
As of 2004, Goodwill Zwelethini had six wives and 27 children:
- Consorts
- maDlamini (born Sibongile Winifred Dlamini), married 27 December 1969 at St Margaret’s Church, Nongoma.
- Buthle MaMathe, born c1951. In May 1996, she and her daughter were seriously wounded in an assault during which they were clubbed, stabbed and shot.
- Mantfombi Dlamini, born 1956, daughter of Sobhuza II of Swaziland and sister of Swaziland's current king, Mswati III, married 1973. A condition for this marriage was that she become first wife which, according to dynastic custom, confers preferential consideration of her progeny in the traditional posthumous selection of the king's successor.
- Thandi (born Thandikela Jane Ndlovu).
- Nompumelelo Mchiza, married 25 July 1992.
- Zola Zelusiwe Mafu, married 2004
- Children
- HRH Prince Lethukuthula Zulu (by Queen MaDlamini), born 1970.
- HRH Princess Sibusile Zulu (by Queen Buhle MaMathe), born 1972.
- HRH Prince Dennis Njeru Mucheke aka Charles, born 1984, studied aviation in Florida.
- HRH Prince Misuzulu Zulu (by Queen Mantfombi), born 23rd September 1974 in Kwahlabisa, KwaZulu-Natal, is currently pursuing a degree in International Studies in Jacksonville, Florida, and is a strong candidate for Zwelethini’s successor. He is unmarried and has one son.
- HRH Princess Ntandoyesizwe Zulu (by Queen Mantfombi), born 1976, married 13 April 2002 at Enyokeni Royal Palace, Nongoma, to Kgosi Oupa Moilwa, Chief of the Bahurutse Bagamoilwa. Civil ceremony 11 July 2004 in Pongola.
- HRH Princess Nandi Zulu (by Queen Buhle MaMathe), born 1977, married (civil) 6 December 2002 in St John's Anglican Cathedral in Mthatha and (traditional) 7 December at the Thembu Great Place near Qunu, to Chief Mfundo Bovulengwa Mtirara, born 25 March 1973, Acting Deputy Paramount Chief of the Thembu from 2000, Chief of the Matye'ngqina Traditional Authority Area.
- HRH Princess Lomkhosi (by Queen Mantfombi), born 1982.
- HRH Princess Bukhosibemvelo, (by Queen Mantfombi), born 1985, married Sipho Nyawo.
- HRH Prince Shlobosenkosi Zulu (by Queen Buhle MaMathe) born 1988 studied at Kearsney College in Botha's Hill, Durban.
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Famous quotes containing the words incumbent and/or family:
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Being so wrong about her makes me wonder now how often I am utterly wrong about myself. And how wrong she might have been about her mother, how wrong he might have been about his father, how much of family life is a vast web of misunderstandings, a tinted and touched-up family portrait, an accurate representation of fact that leaves out only the essential truth.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)