The child queen of Mwali

In 1842, in Fomboni, the ruler Ramanetaka-Abderemane died. He left a daughter born around 1836 in Ouallah: Fatima, also known as Djoumbé Soudi. She was five or six years old. It was she who was proclaimed queen of Mwali.

A child does not govern. Her mother, Ravao, also a Merina princess, acted as regent. In 1843, she married a former adviser of her husband's, General Ratsivandini, from whom she separated three years later. She died in 1847 — poisoned, it was said.

Around the little queen, the powers vied for influence. France, which had recently settled in Mayotte, wanted a say in Mwali. In 1847, it brought in a governess, Madame Droit, a Creole from Mauritius raised by Protestant missionaries, then by nuns in Saint-Denis, Réunion. Her mission: to give the young ruler an education “both French and Christian”. In 1849, France had Fatima crowned; she was twelve or thirteen.

But on Mwali, a Muslim queen had to marry a Muslim. In 1851, the notables proposed a prince from Zanzibar, Saïd Mohamed Nasser M'Kadara. Fatima refused. On the island, people whispered that the queen no longer wanted a Muslim husband, and the governess was accused of having turned her away from her faith. In October 1851, Madame Droit had to leave Mwali.

The queen eventually married the prince from Zanzibar. She had several children, including Mohamed, born around 1859, who would reign in his turn. Fatima, for her part, now knew how to uphold her rank: Alfred Gevrey, a French magistrate who lived in Mayotte for two years, describes a court where the ladies-in-waiting entered the queen's drawing room prostrating themselves, approached her on their knees and left in the same way.