Malawi’s late President Bingu wa Mutharika insisted on being formally addressed as “the conqueror”.

His successor Joyce Banda says a simple Mrs will do, according to a memo from her office Thursday.

Mrs Banda dislikes being addressed as “Madam President”, as the trend has been since she was sworn in on April 7 following Mutharika’s sudden death.

“Please be advised that in correspondence and other communication, the state president should be addressed as ‘Her Excellency Mrs Joyce Banda’,” said the memo.

President Mutharika styled himself as Ngwazi Professor Bingu wa Mutharika, in the footsteps of late dictator Kamuzu Banda. Ngwazi is translated as the “conqueror”.