King Mswati III has been the absolute monarch of this small southern African country since inheriting the crown from his father in 1986, when he was barely 18 years old. His formal title is Ngwenyama, an honorific that also means lion. Sultan Qaboos bin Said has ruled Oman, its government, its treasury and its military since he overthrew his father in a 1970 palace coup. His family has ruled since the 1700s, although it lost its East African territory in the 1800s.
