1968 — Swaziland's Independence Day

On September 6, 1968, the Kingdom of Swaziland ceased to be a British protected state and became a fully independent nation. King Sobhuza II, who had reigned since 1921, became head of state of the new constitutional monarchy, amid independence celebrations in the capital, Mbabane.

Fifty years later the story came full circle. In 2018, King Mswati III renamed the country Eswatini, meaning "land of the Swazis," on the 50th anniversary of independence. Eswatini remains one of the world's last absolute monarchies, and one of only three in Africa — a small kingdom whose crown has outlasted the empire that once protected it.