About Goodwill Zwelithini
Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu (27 July 1948 – 12 March 2021) was the King of the Zulu Nation from 1968 to his death in 2021. He became King in December 1971 after the death of his father, King Cyprian Bhekuzulu, who died in September 1968. Prince Israel Mcwayizeni acted as the regent from 1968 to 1971 while the King took refuge in KwaNdebele, Northern Transvaal province of South Africa for three years under care of his brother-in-law Prince Klaas Mahlangu of KwaNdebele, who was married to his eldest sister, Princess Orah Nonhlanhla kaBhekuzulu, to avoid then rumoured assassination. After his 21st birthday and his first marriage, Zwelithini was installed as the eighth monarch of the Zulus at a traditional ceremony at Nongoma on 3 December 1971, attended by 20,000 people. Zwelithini died on 12 March 2021, aged 72, after reportedly being admitted to hospital for diabetes-related illness. During preparations for his funeral, the king's traditional prime minister, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, announced that he had died of COVID-19. In the power vacuum created in the 1990s as Apartheid and the domination of the country by White South Africans was abolished, the King was increasingly drawn to partisan politics. In March 1999 Coker College of South Carolina awarded him an honorary doctorate in law.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.