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King marries girl carrying his 25th child

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MBABANE, Switzerland, May 30 (UPI) -- King Mswati III, ruler of Swaziland, has married his 11th wife, 21-year-old Noliqwa Ntentesa, selected by Mswati three years ago during a ceremonial dance.

Ntentesa is pregnant with the king's 25th child. Two more young women have already been lined up to marry the king.

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Africa's last absolute monarch owns a fleet of luxury cars, including a $500,000 Maybach, and has spent millions of dollars refurbishing palaces for his wives, the BBC reported.

The 37-year-old's lavish lifestyle is at odds with the living conditions of the nation's 1 million citizens, 70 percent of who live on less than $1 a day and nearly 40 percent of adults are HIV positive.

The BBC noted Mswati's late father, King Sobhuza II, who led the country to independence in 1968, had more than 70 wives when he died in 1982.

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