Sheen Priory a favourite residence of the last Plantagenet king Richard II (1377–1399) and his beloved wife Anne of Bohemia. When Anne died there of plague in 1394, Richard cursed the place where they had found great happiness and razed the palace to the ground. His throne was usurped by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, who ruled as Henry IV (1399–1413). Henry IV had been involved in the murder of Richard in 1400, and in that of Archbishop Richard le Scrope, and made a vow to expiate his guilt by founding three monasteries, but died before he could fulfil his
Monarchies in Africa the Swazi were ruled by Sobhuza II, who became King upon independence. In 1973, Sobhuza abolished the democratic constitution put in place at the time of independence and declared himself the absolute ruler. Upon his death in 1982, Sobhuza had reigned for eighty-two years, the longest verified reign of any monarch. The present ruler, King Mswati III, became monarch in 1986. A new constitution was established in 1998 which allowed for some degree of democratic rule, but, in practice, Swaziland remains an absolute monarchy and the ability of citizens to participate in the political process is limited. The Canary Islands