With All the High Drama of Royal Affairs, a Succession Battle Unfolds in Uganda After Late King’s Family Announces Existence of Heir

A real-life game of thrones is brewing in one of Uganda’s kingdoms after the late king’s family rejected the selection of a popular television news anchor to replace him, claiming that there is another rightful heir to the throne.King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV of the kingdom of Tooro died in America last month at age 34 while undergoing cancer treatment. He had served as the youngest king in the world when he was crowned at the age of three.On Wednesday, a succession committee of elders of the royal clan, Babiito, named Oyo’s cousin, Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma — who hosts a newscast on the state broadcasting network — as next in line to take the throne.Oyo’s family reacted with anger, claiming the late king left a will stating that his young son should succeed him. The son’s existence was not disclosed until after Oyo’s death and his identity has not been revealed, but Oyo’s sister told the press that the will stated that if he had a biological son at the time of his death he is to be appointed as his heir to the throne.The royal clan calls those claims dubious because the child was never formally presented by the king. A committee member told Uganda’s NTV station that a royal child must undergo certain ceremonies to be considered for future leadership.“Up to the time of Oyo’s death, there had never been any official or even informal communication to the babiito that King Oyo had sired a child, leave alone a son,” a relative of the royal family, journalist Andrew Mwenda, said in a Thursday X post. Mr. Mwenda noted that the family had not even offered a photo of the child.Mr. Mwenda said it is not automatic that a king’s son becomes heir to the throne. The child would have to have been born to a queen officially married to the king. Oyo never married. “A king cannot sleep with a prostitute on the street or a house maid, produce a son and it is hoisted onto the throne,” Mr. Mwenda said.The late king’s mother, Queen Best Kemigisa, released a statement saying the committee was a “self-appointed group of clan members.” She said that Lieutenant General Kayanja Muhanga — Mr. Mwenda’s older brother — replaced the royal guards at the palace with Ugandan army soldiers and equated new restrictions on the royal family’s movements to house arrest. She is asking President Yoweri Museveni, who appointed General Muhanga, to allow the family to hold a funeral for Oyo. Thousands of mourners are expected to attend Saturday’s service, a date that would have marked the 31st anniversary of Oyo’s coronation.“I also appeal to those fighting over the throne: please, there will be time for all of that. Let us grieve and bury my son King Oyo,” Queen Kemigisa said.Tooro’s prime minister, Calvin Armstrong Rwomiire Akiiki, who revealed the existence of the son in an August 27 X post, asked for peace and unity. “Whatever our positions or interpretations of Tooro’s customs and institutions, there must remain a minimum standard of moral decency,” Mr. Armstrong said in a Thursday X post. “Let us first bury our king,” he added.Uganda, formerly a British protectorate until 1962 when it gained independence, is an east African republic that is led by a president after abolishing its traditional kingdoms in 1967. In 1993, however, President Yoweri Museveni, who is still in power, officially restored the five traditional kingdoms, each with its own king. Tooro is among the smaller of the five kingdoms, whose subjects number in the tens of thousands among Uganda’s nearly 51 million populace. The kingdoms have no formal political power but the ceremonial position is culturally important to promote local heritage.

With All the High Drama of Royal Affairs, a Succession Battle Unfolds in Uganda After Late King’s Family Announces Existence of Heir

With All the High Drama of Royal Affairs, a Succession Battle Unfolds in Uganda After Late King’s Family Announces Existence of Heir

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