Romancing the Throne

When the king of Lesotho passed away in 1996, his son was unexpectedly called to the throne and had to start looking for a future wife. In Lesotho, the king has actual power, so the wedding is of national interest and everybody meddles with it. The new monarch is a modest man, whose education in England has given him a touch of British reserve. This contrasts sharply with the gay exuberance of his subjects. He is therefore ‘assisted’ by the busybody Fix, who arranges introduction parties for the sovereign. Eventually, he marries a shy student in the year 2000. Director Dominic Ozanne, who followed the protagonists in their daily lives for several years, demonstrates that, behind the scenes, the marriage of the public couple undergoes the same personal frictions as any other marriage.