Abumbi II, the 11th fon, or king, of Bafut, Cameroon, has close to 100. They weren’t all his to start with. According to local tradition, when a fon dies, his successor inherits all his wives and then marries his own queens. He inherited 72 of the women from his late father. He has also taken on over 500 children from all of his wives.
“The queens have a great role to play in the fondom,” notes Prince Nickson, also of Bafut, noting that it is up to these women behind the man to shape him in his kingly role

“Behind every successful man must be a very successful, staunch woman,” says Abumbi’s third wife, Queen Constance.
“Our tradition has it that when you are king, the elderly wives remain to hand down the tradition to the younger wives, and also to teach the king the tradition because the king had been a prince, not a king.”

It is this seeming contradiction that makes life in the fondom fascinating and confusing. Are they stuck in the past or keeping pace with the present? Fon Zofoa III doesn’t think you have to choose. He may have “inherited” 72 wives and more than 500 children after his father’s death, but he considers himself a very modern king.

“To run a kingdom nowadays in this era, you must be educated because things are moving very fast. Like they used to say, education is light, ignorance is darkness.”
Source: CNN