Letsie III

Letsie III (born Seeiso Bereng; 17 July 1963) is King of Lesotho. He succeeded his father, Moshoeshoe II, who was forced into exile in 1990. His father was briefly restored in 1995 but died in a car crash in early 1996, and Letsie became king again. As a constitutional monarch, most of King Letsie's duties as monarch of Lesotho are ceremonial.[1] In 2000, he declared HIV/AIDS in Lesotho to be a natural disaster, prompting immediate national and international response to the epidemic.[2]

Letsie III
Letsie III in 2019
King of Lesotho
Reign7 February 1996 – present
Coronation31 October 1997
Predecessor
Heir apparentLerotholi Seeiso
Prime Ministers
See list
Reign12 November 1990 – 25 January 1995
Prime Ministers
See list
BornSeeiso Bereng
(1963-07-17) 17 July 1963
Scott Hospital Morija, Morija, Basutoland (now Lesotho)
Spouse
​
(m. 2000)​
Issue
Detail
Names
David Mohato Bereng Seeiso
HouseSeeiso
FatherMoshoeshoe II
MotherMamohato
ReligionCatholic
SignatureLetsie III's signature
Royal family of Lesotho

Biography

Letsie III was born on 17 July 1963 at the Scott Hospital in Morija, a town south of the capital Maseru. He was educated in the United Kingdom at Ampleforth College.[3] From there, he went on to study at the National University of Lesotho, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Law. He then went on to study at the University of Bristol (Diploma in English Legal Studies, 1986), Wolfson College, Cambridge (Development Studies, 1989), and Wye College (Agricultural Economics). He completed his studies in 1989, when he returned to Lesotho.[4]

He was installed as the Principal Chief of Matsieng on 16 December 1989.[5]

His coronation took place on 31 October 1997 at Setsoto Stadium. King Charles III (then Charles, Prince of Wales) attended the ceremony.[6]

On 1 December 2016, in Rome, King Letsie III was appointed as the Food and Agriculture Organization's newest Special Ambassador for Nutrition by the Organization's Director-General, José Graziano da Silva.[7]

Personal life

Marriage and children

In 2000, King Letsie married Karabo Motšoeneng, with whom he has two daughters and one son:

Religion

King Letsie is a Catholic, the only such monarch of an African nation. He is a member of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George and has been credited with promoting the principles of his Catholic faith in Lesotho.[9]

Patronages
  • Patron of the Prince Mohato Award (Khau ea Khosana Mohato).

Honours

National

Foreign

Ancestry

References
  1. "Lesotho profile". BBC News. 10 June 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  2. National AIDS Commission, Lesotho. Coordination Framework for the National Response to HIV and AIDS. 2007. Accessed 25 November 2017.
  3. Soszynski, Henry. "LESOTHO". members.iinet.net.au. Archived from the original on 30 June 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  4. "His Majesty King Letsie III". Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Kingdom of Lesotho. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  5. Stephen J. Gill, Johanna A. M. Giesen. "Lesotho, kingdom in the sky", Afrika Museum, (1993), p. 161.
  6. "LA CORONACIÓN DE LETSIE III". El País. 1 November 1997. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  7. "FAO - Noticias: King Letsie III of Lesotho appointed FAO's newest Special Ambassador for Nutrition". www.fao.org. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  8. https://lesothotribune.co.ls/lesothos-heir-apparent-is-born/
  9. "Catholic King Letsie III of Lesotho invested into the Constantinian Order". 8 October 2013.
  10. "Televisión Camagüey, Cuba". Televisión Camagüey, Cuba. Archived from the original on 30 January 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  11. "Kingdom of Lesotho". Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  12. "Outstanding Service Medal". Retrieved 4 June 2017.
  13. "Catholic King Letsie III of Lesotho invested into the Constantinian Order - Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George". 8 October 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2017.
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