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Honour Baba
There are a few very practical reasons why the death of a monarch used to be kept secret until a successor was announced.
One of these was to prevent rivals for the throne who were far away from the capital from staking a claim to the vacant seat. Another was to ensure the continuity of government; there was usually a period of time when in actuality there was no head of state. Now, the power of the bureaucrats that ran governments derived from the head of state. If there was none, then it followed that their power had no basis. The population could get restive.
So, even though the king was dead, a pretense was kept up so that those who had been running the country in his name could continue doing so until another head was put under the crown.
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