By ‘Majirata Latela
On February 18 2000, His Majesty King Letsie III was joined in matrimony with Miss Karabo Motšoeneng, now Her Majesty Queen ’Masenate Mohato Seeiso. Their marriage was blessed with three children, Princess Senate, Princess ’Maseeiso and Prince Lerotholi.
His Majesty is a constitutional monarch and serves as the Head of State of the Kingdom of Lesotho. Apart from performing representational duties, His Majesty is a symbol of national unity and stability.
Speaking to theReporter newspaper the younger brother of the King, the current Principal Chief of Morena Seeiso Bereng Seeiso said the King and the Queen love hiking a lot and that one of the things that they do as a husband and wife.
“Also they sometimes go on vacations around the country and also outside the country. They also sometimes go to snow skiing at Afri Ski with the kids in winter holidays.
“The King also sometimes goes with Prince Lerotholi to cattle posts. I always see that as a father to son bonding while on the other hand it is a way of growing the love of farming in him. We grew up in a family where farming is the core of the family so we do not have a reason why we cannot also pass the culture of farming to our kids,
“Even though the kids are still busy with schooling, the king is working hard to introduce the kids to the life of farming,” he said.
He further showed that the king is also into sports a lot and lately due to some injuries he has grown the love of golf because it is easier to play rather than tennis and bets which he was playing when he was still young.
He also added that his love for horse racing started when they were young as they used to ride horses a lot while going to the fields, going to their father’s different cattle posts. He shows that their father was also into horse raising as he even bought horses which were only for racing in competitions.
“That is where the love of horses came from. Our father taught us how to take care of horses and how to train them for competitions.
“Basotho families used to own horses as they were their mode of transport. We also do not feel whole when we do not have horses at home even nowadays we do not use them that much for transport but we do use them when there is a need,” Seeiso said.
Seeiso also added that the royal family is also a Christian family, he said they grew up knowing that on Sundays they will have to go to attend mass at the Roman Catholic Church.
