Queen Mothers & Royal Offices

The institutional power of queen mothers, female officials, and titled royal women.

The Ohemaa of the Akan: Matrilineal Succession and the Political Power of Queen Mothers

| Queen Mothers & Royal Offices |

The Ohemaa is the female sovereign or queen mother of an Akan state, whose authority derives from the matrilineal abusua and whose stool constitutes one half of a dual-gender governance system. This article examines her origins, political structures, succession mechanisms, legal authority, regalia, colonial encounters, and modern legacies. It centres Akan epistemologies and oral traditions alongside written sources to explain how and why these women held real political power.

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The Office of the Asantehemaa: Queen Mother of the Asante Kingdom and Her Role in Succession and Statecraft

| Queen Mothers & Royal Offices |

The Asantehemaa is the female co-sovereign of the Asante Kingdom, genealogical head of the royal Oyoko clan, and a decisive voice in the nomination of the Asantehene. This article examines the office’s origins, matrilineal succession mechanisms, legal authority, ritual power, colonial encounters, and enduring political influence in modern Ghana.

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The Iyoba of Benin: How the Queen Mother Became a Constitutional Co-Ruler

| Queen Mothers & Royal Offices |

The Iyoba of Benin, created in the early sixteenth century for Queen Mother Idia, institutionalised women’s sovereignty as a constitutional co-ruler with her own palace, court, tribute base, and ritual authority. This article examines the office’s origins, governance, legal powers, regalia, ceremonies, colonial transformations, and enduring legacy in the Benin Kingdom.

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Asantehemaa: The Queen Mother of Asante — History, Powers, and Lineage

| Queen Mothers & Royal Offices |

The Asantehemaa is the senior female co-sovereign of the Asante Kingdom, holding constitutional, spiritual, and judicial authority that parallels and checks the Asantehene. Rooted in the matrilineal Oyoko clan and the founding traditions of the Golden Stool, her office embodies the dual-gender principle of Asante governance. This article explores her origins, powers, succession, and enduring legacy.

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The Iyobas of Benin After Idia: A Lineage of Queen Mothers and Their Political Influence

| Queen Mothers & Royal Offices |

The Iyoba (Queen Mother) of Benin emerged in the early sixteenth century as a royal office created for Idia, mother of Oba Esigie. After Idia, the title became a permanent institution, held by the mother of each reigning Oba, with her own palace at Uselu and significant ritual, judicial, and political authority. This article examines the lineage of Iyobas after Idia, their evolving powers, constraints, and enduring legacy in Edo society.

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Benin’s Queen Mothers and the Portuguese: Diplomacy, Trade, and the Ivory Mask of Idia

| Queen Mothers & Royal Offices |

This article examines the Iyoba institution of the Benin Kingdom, focusing on the sixteenth-century Queen Mother Idia, her role in diplomacy and trade with the Portuguese, and the famous ivory pendant mask that bears her likeness. Drawing on Edo oral traditions, Portuguese written accounts, and material culture, it explores how queen mothers exercised real political, spiritual, and economic power within a complementary system of governance.

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Umugabekazi: The Queen Mother of Rwanda — Authority and Ritual in the Nyiginya Kingdom

| Queen Mothers & Royal Offices |

The Umugabekazi was the Queen Mother of the Nyiginya Kingdom of Rwanda, a co-sovereign whose ritual, political, and economic authority stood alongside that of the king. This article examines the evidence, origins, governance structures, ritual powers, and transformations of this central institution of precolonial Rwanda, centring African epistemologies and oral traditions.

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LaYaka Ndwandwe: The Founding Ndlovukazi of the Swazi State and the Origins of Dual Monarchy

| Queen Mothers & Royal Offices |

LaYaka Ndwandwe, an eighteenth-century Ndwandwe noblewoman and mother of Ngwane III, is remembered as the founding Ndlovukazi of the Swazi state. Her co-rule with her son established the dual monarchy that remains central to Eswatini’s political order. This article examines her origins, ritual authority, and enduring legacy through oral tradition, colonial sources, and contemporary scholarship.

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