Masenate Mohato Seeiso (born Anna Karabo Motšoeneng, June 2, 1976) is the

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

as the wife of King

Letsie III of Lesotho Letsie III (born Mohato Bereng Seeiso; 17 July 1963) is King of Lesotho. He succeeded his father, Bereng Seeiso 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, so ...

. She was the first

commoner A commoner, also known as the ''common man'', ''commoners'', the ''common people'' or the ''masses'', was in earlier use an ordinary person in a community or nation who did not have any significant social status, especially a member of neither ...

in modern history to marry into the royal family of Lesotho. Since becoming queen, she has become the patron of several charities and has worked to promote the work of projects related to

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

Early life

Queen 'Masenate Mohato Seeiso was born Anna Karabo Motšoeneng at Maluti Adventist Hospital in Mapoteng in the

Berea District Berea is a district of Lesotho. In the west, Berea borders on the Free State Province of South Africa. Domestically, it borders on the following districts: Leribe District in the north, Thaba-Tseka District in southeast and Maseru District in the ...

, the eldest daughter of the five children of Thekiso Motšoeneng and his wife 'Makarabo. She was christened Anna in the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. In 1990 Queen 'Masenate enrolled at the Machabeng International College in

Maseru Maseru is the capital and largest city of Lesotho. It is also the capital of the Maseru District. Located on the Caledon River, Maseru lies directly on the Lesotho–South Africa border. Maseru had a population of 330,760 in the 2016 census. T ...

and studied there until 1996, completing an International General Certificate for Secondary Education and an

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...

Diploma. While attending college, she took party in community service with the Angela School for the Disabled and Centre for the Blind. In 1997 she attended the

National University of Lesotho The National University of Lesotho, the main and oldest university in Lesotho, is located in Roma, Lesotho, Roma, southeast of Maseru, the capital of Lesotho. The Roma valley is broad and is surrounded by a barrier of rugged mountains which pro ...

(NUL) and where she studied for a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree; her studies were interrupted by her relationship with King

. She is a French language learner at the

Alliance Française (; "French Alliance", stylised as ''af'') is an international organization that aims to promote the French language and francophone culture around the world. Created in Paris on 21 July 1883 under the name ''Alliance française pour la propa ...

Relationship with Letsie III of Lesotho

Queen 'Masenate first met King

in 1996. This was the same year he became King for the second time, following the death of his father in a road accident.

Engagement and marriage

In October 1999, two years into her studies at the National University of Lesotho, she became engaged to King Letsie III. They were married on February 18, 2000, in Maseru. He was the only unmarried King in Africa. The ceremony was conducted in the Setsoto Stadium by Archbishop Bernard Mohlalisi, with 40,000 people present including dignitaries such as

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

Festus Mogae Festus Gontebanye Mogae (born 21 August 1939) is a Motswana politician and economist who served as the third President of Botswana from 1998 to 2008. He succeeded Quett Masire as President in 1998 and was re-elected in October 2004. After ten ...

Bakili Muluzi Elson Bakili Muluzi (born 17 March 1943) is a Malawian politician who was President of Malawi from 1994 to 2004. He was also chairman of the United Democratic Front (UDF) until 2009. He succeeded Hastings Kamuzu Banda as Malawi's president. He al ...

and

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

, then Prince of Wales. This marked the first time in the history of modern Lesotho where a royal had married a

. She credited the royal family for making her welcome, in particular the influence of Queen 'Mamohato, the Queen Mother. 'Masenate and 'Mamohato grew close and the Queen found it difficult when Mamohato died in 2003, but praised her husband for supporting her at the time. In an interview with the ''Lesotho Times'' in 2014, she said "I like the fact that he listens when I advise him on various issues that are personal. For instance, I want him to be well-dressed for various functions. And, as the woman of the house, I also recommend a lot of things, food, music, movies and more educative television channels for all of us. His Majesty is a very reserved, respectful, patient, wise and humble person and he is all that in a very sweet way. These are the qualities he has sustained over the years. They have drawn me much closer to him. I love him dearly every day."

Motherhood and children

Queen 'Masenate and King Letsie have three children; Princess Senate (b. 7 October 2001), Princess 'Maseeiso (b. 20 November 2004), and Prince Lerotholi (b. 18 April 2007), They were born in a Private Hospital. She later explained that she wished she had more children, saying "Maybe I should have had one early after Prince Lerotholi but now my biological clock is telling me the time is up. I have read a lot about reproductive health-related risks and some medical researchers, in their studies, don't recommend women to consider falling pregnant at my age. When your eggs are no longer that fresh to make a healthy baby, then it's better to be on the safe side."

Public life

Charity work

Queen 'Masenate Mohato Seeiso with King Letsie III in 2013 Queen 'Masenate Mohato Seeiso is involved in a variety of charitable projects, including Patronage of the Lesotho

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

Society, the

SOS Children's Village SOS Children's Villages is an independent, non-governmental, nonprofit international development organization headquartered in Innsbruck, Austria. The organization provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to families facing difficultie ...

, and the Machabeng International College where she studied before becoming Queen. In addition to her work with the charity People with Disabilities, Queen 'Masenate is generally interested in working with projects seeking to improve the voices of disabled people in Lesotho. Following the death of the late Queen Mother ‘Mamohato Bereng Seeiso in 2003, Queen 'Masenate Mohato Seeiso runs ''Hlokomela Bana'' (Take Care of Children).

Public health work

She has a strong interest in enabling the work undertaken with

patients to be spoken of publicly, and has been involved in several awareness programmes in Lesotho. Queen 'Masenate has also undertaken visits to a variety of AIDS projects around the country, including

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...

s. She also holds a First Aid Certificate.

Honours

;National honours * : Dame Commander of the Most Dignified Order of Moshoeshoe. * : Prince Mohato Award Bronze Medal (06/1993). ;Foreign honours * : Commander of the Order of Academic Palms (05/07/2018).

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masenate Mohato Seeiso 1976 births Commandeurs of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques House of Moshesh Lesotho Roman Catholics Lesotho royalty Living people National University of Lesotho alumni People from Berea District African queens