A royal ruckus is brewing over Swaziland King Mswati?s taste for the high life. First, the 36-year-old king ordered new palaces built for each of his 11 queens and millions spent on new luxury sedans for all of his royal stepmothers.

Next, Mswati stunned educators by postponing the start of the school year in his impoverished African kingdom so students could finish weeding the royal fields. And, in a tabloid splash, two of Mswati?s daughters were captured gyrating in a rap music video ? a shocking breach of royal decorum and a challenge to the king?s own laws aimed at promoting moral rectitude of youth.

Mswati, sub-Saharan Africa?s last absolute monarch, is no stranger to criticism for his lavish lifestyle. But the latest spate of royal excess has given new ammunition to banned opposition parties, some of whom argue the time has come to take a new look at how Swaziland is run.

?To his subjects, the isolated king on his hill is more and more appearing like Marie Antoinette,? said an Mbabane white-collar professional who asked that his name not be used.

Mswati was plucked from his studies in Britain in 1986 and crowned the 16th king in the House of Dlamini that has ruled the Swazi tribe since its origin in the 16th century.

At the age of 18, Mswati inherited absolute governing power over the small, land-locked southern African kingdom, although his mother ? known as the ?Great She-Elephant? ? continues to wield significant influence behind the scenes.

During his first decade on the throne, the young king was popular with his subjects and began a process to draft a new constitution that many observers hoped would bring the country a greater degree of democracy.

But over the last three years Mswati has tightened his rule while a series of royal spending scandals have left some Swazis questioning their long-held loyalty to the monarchy.

Mswati earned critical headlines in 2002 when he announced plans to spend some $45 million on a new royal jet ? despite a crippling food crisis that had left about one quarter of the kingdom?s one million people in need of food aid.