This isn't really 'new' but CNN is running it on their website and it struck me as vaguely amusing.

(CNN) -- When Peggielene Bartels went to bed on a summer night in 2008, she was an ordinary administrative assistant living in a modest one-bedroom condo just outside Washington D.C.

But a few hours later, when a persistent ringing phone woke her up in the dead of the August night, the 55-year-old found out she was much more than simply a secretary.

At the other end of the line was Bartels's cousin, from Otuam, a small fishing village on the coast of Ghana. Excited and humble, he congratulated her on being the new king of Otuam.

"I said, 'listen, it's 4 o'clock in the morning in the U.S., I am very tired, let me sleep,'" remembers Bartels. "I thought he was trying to really play games with me."

But this was no time for games.

The previous king of Otuam, who was Bartels's uncle, had just died. The village elders, who remembered Bartels from the times she'd visited with her mother, had decided to anoint her as their new ruler.

Watch video: King Peggy shows off her crowns

After the initial shock, Bartels decided to accept the kingship. Over the course of a few days, she went from being plain old Peggielene Bartels, who had worked for nearly three decades at the Ghanaian Embassy in the United States, to becoming King Peggy -- the first female king of Otuam, reigning over approximately 7,000 people.

"It never ever occurred to me [that I'd be Otuam's king]," says Bartels, who's been living in the United States since her early 20s. "I realized that on this earth, we all have a calling. We have to be ready to accept it because helping my people has really helped me a lot to know that I can really touch their lives," she adds. "I would have really regretted it if I hadn't really accept this calling."

Although she still works at the Ghanaian Embassy, Bartels uses all her holiday every year to spend a month in Otuam.

King is the traditional title of Otuam's ruler, and Bartels says she's happy to be called a king, rather than queen, because it means she can achieve more.

"Most of the time, a king is the one who has all the executive power to do things, while the queen is mostly in charge of the children's affairs and reporting to the king," she says. "So I really love this." [Article Continues here}


I won't comment on the notion of a hereditary leader in modern times, and silly antiquated traditions on the same day we determine weather off a Groundhog. Rather I'm more amused at the title King. Keeping in mind that the Official language of Ghana is English and that the place is not just a former British colony but was so during the current Queen's reign. Not a title used very much even then I imagine, but Her Majesty's vast grab bag of titles has included "Queen of Ghana".

Thinking of a king as more powerful than a queen has justification historically, though one would have trouble thinking that applicable to the British Empire. It's also a touch ironic considering the only living monarch most Americans can name is Queen Elizabeth II, and so you wouldn't expect 'King Peggy' to hold that view either considering how long she's lived in the US. There's also a link on the article about 'King Peggy fights Chauvinism', which just strikes me as humorous.

It did remind of 'King' Hatshepsut and IIRC Terry Pratchett joked on that in 'Pyramids'.