Francisco Malabo Beosá
Francisco Malabo Beosá or King Malabo II (1896 – November 2001), was an African monarch, born on the island of Fernando Po in Spanish Guinea (today Bioko in Equatorial Guinea), was the son of former Bubi king Malabo Lopelo Melaka (Malabo I) and the last legitimate successor of the Bubi Kingdom.
Biography
King Malabo II was considered the spiritual father of the Bubi people, leading circle of elder advisers whose animist rites focused on the cult of Morim - the supreme being and creator of the universe. In 1973, Francisco Macías Nguema in his policy of Africanizing the names of geographic landmarks in Equatorial Guinea, changed the name of Santa Isabel, the capital of Equatorial Guinea to Malabo in honor of his father King Malabo.
King Malabo II died at the age of 105 in the village of Moka, his hometown, located in the southern part of Bioko Island. He left a large family of nine children, 62 grandchildren, 84 great-grandchildren and 17 great-great-grandchildren.
Honours
King Malabo II celebrated his centenary in 1996 and was one of the oldest surviving world leaders at the time of his death. (See List of centenarians (royalty and nobility)) He died in 2001 at the age of 105. The government of Equatorial Guinea, represented by the governor of Bioko Sur Province, Deogracias Olom Miguel Abia, paid a nationally televised tribute to the late king during his funeral in Moka.[1]