Zulu royal family loses another matriarch

Traditional Prime Minister to the Zulu monarch and nation, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi announced the passing of Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, the daughter of King Solomon kaDinuzulu. File Picture: Timothy Bernard African News Agency (ANA)

Traditional Prime Minister to the Zulu monarch and nation, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi announced the passing of Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, the daughter of King Solomon kaDinuzulu. File Picture: Timothy Bernard African News Agency (ANA)

Published Feb 19, 2023

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Durban — The Traditional Prime Minister to the Zulu Monarch and Nation, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, has conveyed news of the passing of one of the Zulu royal family princesses.

“It is with great sorrow that I convey to the nation the passing of Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, the daughter of King Solomon kaDinuzulu,” Buthelezi said.

He said Princess Alice lived at KwaKhangelamankengane Royal Palace, just like her mother before her. Her mother, Kitakita, was the granddaughter of Mnyamana Buthelezi.

“His Majesty King Misuzulu kaZwelithini has received the news with tremendous sadness. Our thoughts and prayers are with His Majesty and the Royal Family in this painful time,” Buthelezi said.

He said that details of Her Royal Highness’s funeral were yet to be finalised.

“For now, we extend our condolences to all who grieve this loss. May Her Royal Highness rest in eternal peace,” Buthelezi added.

Last year, Princess Thembi Zulu-Ndlovu died.

Zulu-Ndlovu was a half-sister to the late King Goodwill Zwelithini and an aunt to King Misuzulu kaZwelithini, whose ascendancy to the Zulu throne she disputed to the very end.

Wheelchair-bound for years, the senior princess was sickly and she has been in and out of hospital.

The princess first shot to prominence in March 2021 when she called parallel press conferences in the run-up to the burial of the late King Goodwill Zwelithini, angering Buthelezi, who was driving the funeral programme.

Meanwhile, in May 2021, almost two months after the passing away of her husband, King Goodwill Zwelithini, news broke that Queen Mantfombi Dlamini-Zulu, 65, who had been holding the fort until a successor was identified, died.

The cause of the death of the queen, whose children include Prince MisuZulu, Princess Sibusile and the late Prince Lethukuthula, was not immediately announced.

Buthelezi, the traditional prime minister to the Zulu Nation and king, said the queen’s death had taken everyone in the royal court by surprise.

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