Somnjalose Simelane

Queen Somnjalose Simelane ; was the wife of King Ndvungunye and the mother of King Sobhuza I. She was the younger sister/support bride of Lojiba Simelane, also a wife of King Ndvungunye, who acted as regent following Sobhuza's death in 1836.

As the wife of King Ndvungunye, Somnjalose held a prominent position within the royal household, including her son being the heir. Somnjalose and her sister Lojiba were given to King Ndvungunye to marry by the Simelane clan when they were seeking refuge. The father of the two sisters was Nsibandze Simelane, a chief of the Simelane clan.

They were born into the Ndlangamandla people, a smaller sub-clan of the Simelane lineage. Originally, the Simelane people resided in Empangeni, in the Zulu kingdom, but left due to ongoing conflicts in the region. They first settled south of the Pongola River, where their leader, Chief Mabonya (her brother), an elder son of Nsibandze, was killed in battle. Following his death, the Simelane people, led by Mancala, moved north to kaNgwane (the Swazi heartland), where they sought refuge with King Ndvungunye and were given a land called KoNtjingila. Queen Somnjalose was built a village between the Little Lusutfu River ("Lusushwana") and Mbabane River area, which came to be known as Ezulwini (about 4 km from Lobamba).

Her other residence at Zombodze became an important center of power during the reign of her son (Somhlolo). According to oral narratives, when King Sobhuza faced threats from neighboring kingdoms, including the Ndwandwe and Zulu forces, he moved from his Shiselweni residence to his mother's in Zombodze for protection.