"The queens have a great role to play in the fondom," said Prince Nickson, also of Bafut, adding that they helped prepare him for his position as king.
"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 the king the tradition because the king had been a prince, not a king."
Polygamy is legal in Cameroon, but data shows that there are far fewer polygamous marriages across the African continent as a result of the spread of Christian faith.
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"My role is to blend them, to find the way forward so my subjects can enjoy the fruits of development and modernity without destroying their culture," he said. "Without a culture, you are not a human being, you are an animal. And therefore the chieftaincy institution is the guarantor of our culture."
The culture and practice of inheriting wives is nothing but a moral obligation, according to CNN. Aside from that, she observed that many of the royals are highly accomplished.
Methu also met the queens of Fon Ndofua Zofia II of Babungo, one of Cameroon's youngest traditional rulers, who said that despite inheriting 72 wives and more than 500 children, he still considers himself a modern king.
"To run a kingdom nowadays in this era, you must be educated because things are moving very fast," Fon Ndofua Zofia II said. "Like they used to say, education is light, ignorance is darkness."
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