By Ruth Styles Resplendent in a bright pink striped dress, a fluorescent shell and bead necklace and a gleaming lion skin robe, Meekulu Mwadinohmo looks every inch the Queen. One of the Namibia's last tribal monarchs, Queen Meekulu, leader of the Okwanyama tribe, offered photographer Eric Lafforgue a rare glimpse into her world and allowed him inside the royal palace, which is protected by an elaborate labyrinth. From within her sprawling thatched palace, she rules over the Okwanyama's 55 villages with the help of a council, or board, whose members she chooses herself and can fire at will. Indeed, according to Lafforgue, she did so just before the visit on the grounds that the offending councillor was 'lazy'.
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Queen Meekulu Mwadinohmo rules the Okwanyama people of Nambia's northern Ovamboland region
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She took the throne in 2005 after being elected by tribal elders and lives in a palace concealed within a labyrinth
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Says Queen Elizabeth II should visit and learn from the traditions of her people
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Role includes managing the omaada or royal granary which is opened when famine strikes
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A widow, she lives with her four children and has adopted an HIV positive boy who lives in the palace
Friends: When the Queen was reinstated after @placeholder regained independence, younger members of the tribe welcomed her back