Modjadji VI, the South African queen believed to make rain, has died in hospital, just two years after being crowned.

Makobo Modjadji was a descendant from a line of rain queens dating back at least 200 years, and the youngest ever to head southern Africa's only female dynasty ruling the Balobedu people in the country's northern Limpopo province.

Modjadji Royal Council chairman Kelly Modjadji said the queen died in a hospital over the weekend but gave no further details, according to the domestic news agency SAPA.

The Balobedu believe their women rulers communicate with the gods and possess rain making powers passed from queen to queen.

The queen was a fan of popular television soap operas and walked around with her cellphone glued to her ear in a move analysts said bridged the gap between tradition and modernity.

She was the first rain queen to have had a formal education, having completed high school.

Makobo Modjadji succeeded her grandmother Mokope Modjadji V in 2003 and was crowned in light drizzle, seen by some of her older subjects as proof of her powers. In line with Balobedu custom, she was not married.

South Africa recognizes traditional customs like that of the Balobedu, but tribal rulers have limited influence. The queen governed more than eight chiefs and 300 headsmen.

Nineteenth century British author Sir H. Rider Haggard made the rain queen famous outside Africa in his adventure novels "King Solomon's Mines" and "She."