King Sobhuza during his "progressive" phase had indeed enjoyed the 1920s-era material perquisites of modern royalty--stylish European dress, a shortwave radio, a Buick touring car, and a house in Sophiatown, to mane a few. Beneath all the stylishness, however, had laid almost from the beginning a serious political agenda--his determination to best the colonial-settler society at its own game. Mswati by contrast often appeared to be following no political agenda at all, aside from his determination to preserve monarchy unchanged. The young king soon became known for his frequent and luxurious travels abroad, often to occasions more ceremonial then substantive, and for a copious taste in the trappings of conspicuous wealth, most notable the construction of a lavish palace outside Mbabane. At the same time Mswati developed reputations domestically for his inattention to the substance of governance and within the foreign diplomatic community for his reluctance to focus on serious affairs of state. Those reputations stood in stark contrast to those of his late father.
Alan Booth
Historical Dictionary of Swaziland
Scarecrow Press 2000
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