African Usage
The vast majority of African royals typically make use of titles such as prince, chief and shaykh, eschewing the attendant styles that one would ordinarily be accustomed to seeing or hearing along with them. Even in the cases of the aforesaid titles, they usually only exist as courtesies and carry little, if any, legal weight. However, some traditional leaders and their family members use royal styles when acting in their official roles as representatives of sovereign or constituent states, distinguishing their status from others who may use or claim traditional titles. For example, the Nigerian traditional rulers of the Yoruba are usually styled using the HRH The X of Y method, even though they are confusingly known as kings in English and not the princes that the HRH style usually suggests. The chiefly appellation Kabiyesi (lit. He (or She) whose words are beyond questioning) is likewise used as the equivalent of the HRH and other such styles by this class of royals when rendering their full titles in the Yoruba language. The wives of the Zulu king, although all entitled to the title of "queen" do not share their husband's style of Majesty, but instead each is addressed as "Royal Highness", with the possible exception of the Great Wife.
Read more about this topic: Royal Highness
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