King Mswati III of Swaziland has stunned the country by taking a 17-year-old schoolgirl as his eighth wife.

A formal visit by the king to the girls' parents was made at the weekend completing the traditional wedding process, a source confirmed to the BBC.

The marriage has attracted much comment as it comes just weeks after the king imposed a five-year sex ban on young girls saying he wanted to revive the old custom of preserving a young girl's virginity as well as helping halt the spread of HIV/Aids.

Some girls told the BBC that by taking a teenage schoolgirl as his wife the king was in effect undermining his own ban.

Any man found breaking the cultural ban called "umchwasho" is either fined an animal such as a cow or will be liable to pay about $160.

Ban

The 33-year-old king picked the schoolgirl called La Masango during the annual reed dance in 1999.

She attends the Mjingo High School for Girls in the industrial city of Manzini and is in the fourth form.