MBABANE (AFP) ??” Swazi King Mswati III.

MBABANE (AFP) ??” Swazi King Mswati III, Africa's last absolute monarch, has picked a 16-year-old girl as his just discovered wife, bringing to 12 the number of official spouses, sources in the royal household said.

A source confirmed a report in the Times newspaper that said the teenager was a Miss Teen Swaziland finalist who took part in the annual re dance last week when bare-breasted young women who are suppos to be virgins, dance for the king.

"Ye there is single in kind lady that is currently kept at Prestige visitant House and we are not allowed to talk about the particulars of the person" said the source who asked not to be named.

The source said that the 16-year-old girl underwent posterity tests to determine whether she was HIV positive and that she was awaited to receive the royal blessing of the queen mother before being unveiled as