Abumbi II is the 11th king of the Bafut region in Cameroon, he became the ruler after death of his father in 1968 when he was only 16-year-old.
The King has close to 100 wives after inheriting his late father’s wives as his own. As a custom, when a king dies, his successor inherits all of his wives, and Abumbi has 72 wives from his late father then only he marries his own queens.
He has taken on over 500 children from all of his wives.
King Abumbi says it is his job to preserve the culture of his people and their local traditions, meaning his wives and kids are very important to him.
Polygamy is still legal in Cameroon and it is tradition in rural areas for men to marry more than one woman, with no limit on how many wives one can take.
Queen Constance, Abumbi’s third wife, told CNN “Behind every successful man must be a very successful, staunch woman.
“Our tradition has it that when you are king, the elderly wives remain to hand down the tradition to the younger wives, and also to teach he king the tradition because the king had been a prince, not a king.”
Polygamy often received criticism in the West, but the King said, “I understand that we might be quick to judge the lifestyle of the kings, but just like in the United Kingdom, African kingdoms and kings are bound to a rich culture and history. (Practices) like inheritance of all your father’s wives is nothing but a moral obligation.”
According to the some report, all his young wives, spoke fluent English and French and were great marketers. And the King said, “To run a kingdom nowadays in this era, you must be educated because things are moving very fast. Like they used to say, education is light, ignorance is darkness.”
Info via Daily Mail | CNN