The death overseas of a young king and his family’s revelation that he had a biological heir has opened a royal rift in one of Africa’s oldest monarchies.
Oyo Nyimba Kabamba-Iguru Rukidi IV, also known as King Oyo of Tooro or King Rukidi IV, died in the United States last month while receiving treatment for cancer. He was 34.
Tooro, which lies in southwestern Uganda, is one of hundreds of traditional kingdoms in Africa. Its omukama, or king, is the constitutional monarch of the Batooro, a Bantu people. One of five such kingdoms recognized in Uganda, it’s subject to Ugandan laws and administration, but its king wields substantial influence.
In the days since Oyo’s death, a committee of elders offered the throne to a London-based footballer, who declined, and a journalist. Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, a cousin of the late king, was announced as his successor on Wednesday.
Oyo’s family has objected. His sister, Princess Ruth Nsemere Komuntale, says he intended his son to succeed him. His mother, Queen Mother Best Kemigisa Akiiki, said Thursday that security forces had come to the Karuzika Royal Palace, relieved the Royal Guards and placed her under house arrest.
“We are living through one of the most painful and delicate moments in the history of our Kingdom,” Prime Minister Calvin Armstrong Rwomiire Akiiki wrote Thursday on X. “His Majesty … has passed away, and even before we have laid our King to rest, sharply differing positions have emerged regarding succession. …
“Whatever our positions or interpretations of Tooro’s customs and institutions, there must remain a minimum standard of moral decency. Let us first bury our King.”
Oyo was 3 when he succeeded his late father, King Patrick David Matthew Kaboyo Olimi III, to become the world’s youngest modern monarch. While regents ran the kingdom, he grew up playing with friends and meeting leaders such as South Africa’s Nelson Mandela and Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi.
“How unfair life can be!!” Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said on X. “He was orphaned while still young and he has died young.”
In his “short life on earth,” Museveni said, Oyo showed “he had potential of working well with the Central and Local Governments to develop Tooro. What a loss to Tooro and Uganda.”
The son’s existence, revealed by his prime minister after his death on Aug. 27, came as news to the Batooro, who had thought the king was unmarried and without children.
“The continuity of the kingdom is assured,” the prime minister said in a statement. “His Majesty leaves behind a prince as his heir, whose identity will be formally revealed at the appropriate time.”
It was apparently news to Museveni, too, who said he was told of a “young boy heir” by Oyo’s mother.
On Wednesday, the kingdom posted what it said was Oyo’s will, dated 2022, in which he designated his son as his successor and named three cousins as alternates. They did not include George Desmond Kamurasi, the captain of the ninth-tier SE Dons who turned down the role, or Rukidi Kijanangoma, the Uganda Broadcasting Corp. news anchor.
On social media, some Batooro have called on the kingdom to produce the son. Some say a child born out of wedlock cannot be king.
Oyo’s family is appealing to the people.
“He left behind a will which stated very, very clearly that the next person in line is his son,” Komuntale, his sister, told reporters. “He also left very strict instructions on any other successors who might take over just in case of … a plan B.”
The Queen Mother, who was widowed at the age of 26, asked Museveni and the Uganda Peoples’ Defense Forces to “allow our family the freedom and dignity to mourn and bury King Oyo in peace.”
“I also appeal to those fighting over the throne,” she said. “There will be time for all of that. Let us grieve and bury our son.”
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