[4] In January 1941, however, a council of the leading Basotho chiefs (collectively known as the "Sons of Moshoeshoe") was called to elect a permanent regent during Bereng's minority.
She was subsequently recognised as regent by the British Resident Commissioner, Edmund Richards, and the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Moyne.
[6] Despite the council's ruling, Bereng Griffith and his supporters refused to recognise 'Mantšebo as regent, and sued her in the High Court of Basutoland (which had only been established in 1938).
She arranged to have him raised in her own Roman Catholic faith,[9] and rejected a plan to have him taught at a non-denominational government school, despite the strong objections of his mother (a Protestant), the Legislative Council, and the Resident Commissioner.
[11] This conflict over schooling resulted in "a full-scale war between the royal widows", which only ended when Bereng left Lesotho to continue his education in England.
She employed various tactics to frustrate colonial officials, including feigning poor health and affecting frequent bouts of "tears and histrionics".
[14] She was the only female ruler of Basutoland prior to independence, and in southern Africa Labotsibeni of Swaziland was the only other woman to rule for a comparable length of time.
[1] In his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela recalled a meeting with 'Mantšebo in which she chided him for his poor grasp of the Sotho language, which he said made him "realise [his] parochialism".
[16] The following year, during a deviation from a royal tour of South Africa, King George VI personally inducted her into the order in front of a crowd of thousands.