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My Friend the Queen:
I first met the Queen of Lesotho when I was teaching English
at Moshoeshoe II High School in Matsieng, the royal village. Everything about her showed she was a woman
of the people: she got down on her hands and knees with the gardeners to weed
the flowers; she invited all the village children to the birthday parties of
Mohato, her son, and Seeiso, her daughter. (Mohato is now in his forties and
is King Letsie III, but I remember attending his 12th birthday
party.) The Queen was also famous for
dancing with the village women. There was nothing pretentious at all about
her. No wonder she was universally
loved as a symbol of all that was good about the Basotho people.
When I returned to Lesotho later as a Foreign Service
officer, the ambassador decided she should go to the United States under our international
visitor program. When the two of us went
to the palace to invite her and before we could say anything, she smiled
broadly and said “I accept!”
The picture above shows us in Matsieng in front of the king’s
village house. I had gone thereto discuss
her U.S. program focused on meeting groups that promote women’s issues. As we
were talking, she blurted out, “Oh, Ntate Bill, I’m losing my hair!” “Well so am I,” I replied. “But you’re a man.” Can you imagine any other queen in the world
making such an unpretentious comment?
Her visit was covered by the Voice of America and when she
returned she invited Qenehelo and me as well as several women friends to the
palace for dinner where she excitedly recounted her adventures in the US. A true woman of the people.
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