Abumbi II, the 11th king or fon of Bafut, Cameroon has close to 100 wives, as local tradition has a king inherit all the wives of the previous fons and then marry his own queens.
"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.
"Behind every successful man must be a very successful, staunch woman," said Abumbi's third wife, Queen Constance.
"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.
Fon Abumbi II, who has ruled Bafut, the largest fondom in the region, for 47 years, admits that there is a conflict between traditional values and modern western values, the Daily Mail reported.
"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 Soni Methu of 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."
