Legacy MattersWhen someone dies without leaving a will, their family can be split apart in acrimony. When a king doesn't leave a will, a country can.
When King Pakubuwono XII died four years ago, he left six mistresses with 35 children, but no wife, no heir and no instructions about the succession here in this city in central Java.
He might have guessed what would happen. Two half brothers each claimed the ancient crown, and the family split into two bitterly feuding factions.
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Shortly after their father died, on June 12, 2004, each contending brother had himself crowned King Pakubuwono XIII. One coronation was held inside the palace, one outside, at the mansion of a friend.
When the time came to commemorate their father’s death, palace insiders say, the princes carried out separate tomb-sealing rituals: two teams of masons, two teams mixing cement, two solemn ceremonies.
In a Sultanate Known as Solo, One Too Many Kings.