KING OYO RUKIDI OF UGANDA`S TORO KINGDOM: THE WORLD`S YOUNGEST MONARCH

Rukirabasaija Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV or ‘King Oyo’ is the 20-year-old ruler of Toro, a kingdom in Uganda, East Africa. Born on 16 April 1992, he came to power at the age of just three and now rules over 3%  (about 2 million) of Uganda’s 33-million-strong population. He holds the record as the "World`s Youngest Monarch" in the Guinness World Records Book after  ditching the previous record holder, King Mswati of Swaziland who was crowned at 18 years of age.

                          Rukirabasaija Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, Omukama of Toro

The accession of King Oyo to his father's throne marked the beginning of a challenging and exciting period for the people of Toro. Kingdom of Toro is one of the four kingdom states inside Uganda. Buganda kingdom is the largest and the namesake of the country Uganda and it covers about 17% of the population in the country. Bunyoro-Kitara kingdom follows as the second largest, with Busoga as the third largest and Toro as the fourth and smallest Kingdom.

                    King Oyo, when he was 3 year-old and was enthroned as Omukama of Toro

King Oyo, who is now reigning as the 12th ruler (Omukama) of the 180 year old Kingdom of Toro, in Uganda was born on 16 April 1992 to King Patrick David Mathew Kaboyo Olimi III and Queen Best Kemigisa Kaboyo. His title Oyo Nyimba is referred to as the "Omukama" which means King and 'Rukirabasaija," the greatest of men.

              King Oyo of Toro Kingdom being helped to wear  his Royal crown by his mother,Best Kemigisha


The untimely death of his father King Kaboyo in 1995 meant the Crown Prince had to take his place as King during his toddler years. On 12 September 1995, a week after his father's burial, the rituals to hand over the reins of power to Oyo began at 2 a.m. They included a mock battle at the palace entrance fought between enemy forces of a “rebel” prince and the royal army and a test of Oyo's divine right to the throne.

Uganda`s King of the Toro Kingdom, King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, during his 18th birthday in the royal palace at Fort Portal, Uganda, Saturday, April 17, 2010. At left is Uganda`s president, Yoweri Museveni

 The Omusuga, head of the royal clan, called on the gods to strike Oyo dead if he was not of royal blood. On passing the test, Oyo was permitted to sound the Nyalebe, a sacred Chwezi drum as his forefathers had done. He was then blessed with the blood of a slaughtered bull and a white hen.

                           King Oyo walks over a lion skin carpet

At 4 a.m, Oyo was crowned King amidst a jubilating crowd and entered the palace as the new ruler of the Kingdom of Toro. He was served his first meal as King which consisted of millet dough, sat in the lap of a virgin girl and swore allegiance to the Crown while lying on his side, on the ground.

            King Oyo during his basic school days in London

The cultural rituals were followed by a religious ceremony presided over by the Anglican Bishop, Eustance Kamanyire. The President of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni attended the coronation celebrations and paid tribute to the new King.

       King Oyo and president Yoweri Museveni of Uganda in a chat during his 2004 coronation ceremony


To help him rule, King Oyo has three regents charged with grooming and overseeing his growth into the role of King. The regents handle the affairs of the Kingdom but now Oyo is 18. At the time of his coronation, the three regents included his mother, Queen Best (the Queen Mother), Princess Elizabeth Bagaaya, his Aunt and Godmother and President Yoweri Museveni.

                              King Oyo Rukidi delivering a speech in 2001

Another significant patron of the Kingdom of Toro with once close ties to the royal family was Libya's late leader Muamar Gaddafi. The young King Oyo named Gaddafi the “defender” of the Kingdom and invited him to attend the 6th coronation anniversary celebrations in 2001. Gaddafi had been more than generous in his support of Toro through donations, such as the refurbishments made several years prior to his death to the Palace in Fort Portal which cost approximately $200,000.

        Young king Oyo welcomes the Late Libyan leader Gaddafi to his sixth coronation anniversary

One of the main duties of the King is to lobby for donations for economic and social welfare projects for the wellbeing of his subjects. These include health, education, economic and cultural projects. The latter is important to build the people's confidence in the King and promote strong cultural identity. Supported by his regents and family, Oyo travels the world seeking foreign assistance for the development of Toro. Most recently, Oyo received 100 wheelchairs on behalf of the Kingdom which were distributed to five regions of Toro. Other humanitarian projects are endorsed by the Kingdom through the Batebe Foundation of Toro which runs a special education fund for needy children.

     King Oyo flanked by his mother,Best Kemigisha and his entourage

Aside from his official duties, King Oyo goes to school and has time to play with his friends. However, his status dictates that he goes to private school and has a personal security guard at all times. Oyo spent two years in London and attended preschool there. He is currently at a university in London.He went to the International School of Uganda and says he enjoyed art, music, math, and swimming.

               Toro King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukiidi IV

    King Oyo of Toro being welcomed at the airport in June 2012 by his advisor Rev Baguma as his subject prostrate to shoew his respect as tradition demands.

                                     People kneel to greet King Oyo

TORO

BRIEF HISTORY

The Royal House of Toro represents the senior line of the Babito Dynasty of Bunyoro-Kitara. The kingdom came into being in 1822 when Prince Kaboyo  rebelled against his father and seized the premier provinces of the kingdom. Although named as successor to his father, Omukama Kyebambe III, Kaboyo Olimi V preferred to leave Bunyoro to his younger brother. After a long reign, his death ushered caused a succession dipute between his many sons, that lasted for nearly a decade. Neighbouring kingdoms, particularly Buganda, intervened several times on behalf of various contenders for the throne. Bunyoro, never happy with Toro's separate existence, invaded in 1876. After a number of attempts at annexation and three wars against various princes, she triumphed in 1880. The Toro Royal family of Toro fled to neighbouring Ankole. Their choice of exile proved fateful, most of them were massacred on the orders of the Banyankore Queen Mother. The sole survivor, Prince Kasagama, fled to Buganda. There he encountered Lord Lugard, then engaged in operations against the warlike and expansionist ruler of Bunyoro. Toro was wrested from him and Kasagama proclaimed as Omukama Kyebambe VI. He later converted to Christianity, performed valuable service against the Germans in the East African campaign, and reigned for thirty-seven peaceful years. Rukidi III succeeded his father in 1928. The first Western educated ruler, he had studied at King's College at Budo and served as an officer in the King's African Rifles, and in the Uganda Police. He too reigned for thirty-seven years, dying in 1966. Patrick Olimi III, reigned for a little over a year before the abolition of the kingdoms. After a long period of exile in Kenya, he eventually returned home and represented his country as Ambassador to Cuba. He enjoyed his restoration for a little over two years, dying in 1995 and leaving his throne to his three year-old son, Rukidi IV. 

THE BOY KING

His Majesty, Oyoo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, shortly after his enthronement.

When a three-and-a-half-year-old boy ascended the royal dais last year to become the undisputed titular head of the 180-year Toro Kingdom, those who witnessed the occasion couldn't help but marvel at the extent to which culture can go.
King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, to give him his full title, has since his enthronement entered the Guinness Book of records as the youngest reigning king in the world. He replaces King Mswati of Swaziland who achieved that status in April 1986 when at the age of 18 years he succeeded his father, the late King Sobhuza II, to the throne.

Oyo's enthronement had a peculiar coincidence: as the 12th King of Toro, his coronation day fell on 12th September. On the other hand, he broke a record set way back in the 19th century when four-year-old Daudi Chwa was crowned king of neighbouring Buganda.
Regal dignity aside, the king clutched his toy car for most part of the coronation rituals and even cried for his mother's attention. At one point, cameras captured him extending his hands crying for a soda. When his uncle, Prince Jimmy Mugenyi, showed him the working of an electronic calculator, he burst into laughter.
Hardly the attributes typical of one described as the Omukama, the greatest of men!, and patriarch of nearly one million Batooro.
Led by the king's spokesman, the Rev. Richard Baguma, his court was quick to defend regal dignity. "Throughout the coronation rituals, the king maintained a stately composure and watched the proceedings with keen interest," he said.


President Yoweri Museveni (left) pays homage to a visibly disinterested King.


In his allegiance speech to the Batwarane, the kingdom's equivalent of the House of Lords, the Prime Minister, Mr. John Katuramu, said: "We are not looking for a giant to lead us; what we want is a king to guard our identity".

The Crown Prince went through the time-tested motions of coronation on that Tuesday, September 12, as a large crowd of VIPs, that included Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, watched.
The following day, the Omukama (King) presided over his first official ceremony - the opening of the Toro Supreme Council - attended by 50 grown-up delegates.
Waking up a three-year-old in the middle of his sleep and taking him through a 13-hour coronation ritual that makes one king of a highland kingdom in western Uganda does not only add an extra page to local history, but is something that does not always happen in a country where traditional leaders are titular heads of their people
Scenes from the coronation of Oyo Nyimba captivated many as they watched the young King clad in an overflowing blue and yellow royal robe stride down the red carpet to a small decorated traditional throne specially made for his size.
King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV becomes the youngest monarch to rule the kingdom.


The King waves to his subjects.

Oyo's succession to the throne followed the sudden death of his father, King Patrick Olimi Kaboyo. Kaboyo's year-old reign came to an abrupt end on August 26, 1994, when he died of hypertension.
A week after his father's burial, Oyo was woken up at 2 am and led by his two uncles to the US$200,000 palace, where the rituals were set to start.

Marching ahead of an entourage of princes and princesses, the young heir proceeded to the entrance of the royal palace where his entry was opposed from within by an "enemy force" of 500 men led by a "rebel" prince in a mock battle. Accompanied by the royal army, the king overpowered the enemy forces and sounded victory tunes from the Omujaguza, a giant traditional war drum that signals the coming of a new king.
After the mock battle, His Majesty was led to a room where the royal drums and spears had been lying upside down since the death of King Kaboyo. Inside the regalia room. The Omusuga - head of rituals - called on the gods to strike Oyo if he was not of royal blood.
"Because he is of royal blood," said Paddy Silver Ruhweza, Toro's secretary-general, "they did not strike him and he was permitted to ring the royal bell."


The huge thatched structure housing the Kasubi Royal Tombs, where the remains of Buganda's Kabakas are laid to rest.

The bell was last rang in 1966 when Kaboyo, then aged 21, was crowned king.
After the regalia ritual, the Omukama proceeded to the main entrance of the palace, where he sounded the Nyalebe, a sacred Chwezi drum.
The Chwezi are a mystic people who lived in the first half of the 14th Century. Local history has it that they once ruled a kingdom that extended into what is present-day northernTanzania.
From there the king was blessed with blood from a slaughtered bull and a white hen.

At 4 am, Oyo's official ascension to the throne of Toro was announced and drum beats and trumpet blasts echoed off the nearby Rwenzori Mountain slopes as waiting crowds chanted; Tusemerve Okukurora, Rukirabasaija, meaning "welcome the greatest of men."
All this time women had not been allowed to attend the secret coronation rituals. The Rev Baguma said it is a bad omen for women to attend the rituals that are performed in the dark. As daylight broke, the King ceremoniously entered the palace and sat on the lap of a virgin girl, another ritual blessing, from where he was served with a royal meal of millet dough. He was constrained to lie on one side indicating that he would adhere faithfully to his principles and decisions.


"Please don't take me away from my mother!", cries the King for her attention.

At this point the king cried as he was separated from his mother, Best Kemigisa Kaboyo, now the queen mother.
At 10 am the king, wearing a jewel-studded crown, was carried by his uncle to St. John's Cathedral where President Museveni, central government leaders, kingdom officials, ambassadors and other dignitaries waited.
Anglican Bishop Eustance Kamanyire, the local head of the denomination to which every King of Toro must belong, then crowned him the 12th King of Toro. He declared; "Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru, I crown you Rukirabasaija (King) of Toro."
After the service at which Catholic Bishop Paul Kalanda presented the King with a Bible, the Omukama returned to his throne at the palace where he was handed a centuries old copper spear and a leather shield. An aide who played his part swore to defend the Kingdom and its subjects with the weapons he had just received. From there, the Omukama led a procession of Abajwarakondo, to inspect the royal kraal. The Abajwarakondo is a group of highly honoured men of Toro, who include President Museveni.
As the new King strolled down a traditional carpet to greet his subjects in a traditional shed, the huge crowd went wild with joy and shouted, "haugiriza agutambae" meaning long live your highness.
The Toro monarchy has a turbulent history which has left obsevers fearing for its survival. The kingdom was founded as a secessionist state in 1830 by Prince Olimi I, a prince of the legendary Bunyoro Kitara empire.


The King jots down a few notes for future reference, as his uncle, Prince Jimmy Mugenyi looks on.

In recent times, the kingdom has had a series of misfortunes. A month after Oyo's father, King Kaboyo, was crowned in 1966, a massive earthquake hit the kingdom destroying everything save for the earthquake-proof palace. A few months later, kingdoms were abolished by the then President, Milton Obote, and Kaboyo, like his peers, fled to exile.
Before his wedding in 1987, his brother-in-law (husband to Princess Elizabeth Bagaya, at one time Idi Amin's Foreign Affairs Minister) died in a plane crash. Another devastating earthquake hit the kingdom the month he regained his throne in early 1994. And days before his second coronation anniversary, he died in his sleep.
A night after his burial, the concrete slabs covering his tomb caved in causing slight damage to the $8,000 (Sh440,000) casket. And so when the Batooro watched the tender, young, handsome and innocent King, stroll down a red carpet ahead of a royal entourage, they couldn't help but go ecstatic chanting "Long Live Your Highness!"
A few days later, the King flew to London where he will attend kindergarten for two years. While there, his 29-year-old mother, Best Kemigisa Kaboyo, will look after his two-year-old sister, Princess Kamukyeya, who is admitted in a London hospital suffering from Leukaemia.
The royal family's expenses in London will be met by the Uganda Government, the President and the Kingdom.
Today, Uganda has four constitutionally recognised traditional kings. The institution of traditional kings was re-established in 1994 after two-and-half decades of limbo.
The institution was scrapped in 1966 when President Apollo Milton Obote unleashed "a go republican" campaign, usurped the federal constitution thereby abolishing all forms of traditional leadership. It was then argued that traditional leaders were promoting ethnic aggrandisement and, therefore, aggravating the country's underdevelopment.
The ban was widely celebrated mainly due to the fact that half of the population of Uganda comes from ethnic groups where the institution of kings was never a part of their history.


The Royal Corps of Flutists.

Historically, the region that makes up present day Uganda, had five kingdoms; Bunyoro, Ankole, Toro, Bugandaand Busoga. The latter was created by the British colonial administration.
Throughout the colonial era, the kingdoms survived amidst wealth and pomp. The British held the traditional leaders in such high regard that several of them were knighted.
When Uganda was declared a British Protectorate in 1884, the colonists found here a system of administration patronised by kings who held absolute power over their subjects. The system was so elaborate that the British realised it offered the most effective way of controlling the colony. They retained the kings as their intermediaries with the subjects. Ethnic groups that lacked centralised traditional forms of administration, had a separate system in which they were governed through District Councils. Both systems were directly answerable to the Protectorate Governor.

Muammar Gaddafi Yoweri Museveni And King Oyo Nyimba

The decision to use traditional leaders as agents of colonialism in part contributed to the institutions becoming unpopular among the common folk, many of whom were forcefully conscripted for the two World Wars and made to pay a plethora of taxes. By the time Uganda gained Independence, they carried the stigma of colonialism and were despised as "agents of foreign interests". Thus it was that in 1966, they were abolished with ease.
Idi Amin's promises of reinstating them in the early 1970s were never effected. For two decades, Uganda's political scene was preoccupied with dictatorship, chaos, instability and civil disobedience putting national unity at stake. It was not until President Yoweri Museveni's rag tag National Resistance Army stormed Kampala to assume state power in 1986, that serious talks about the restoration of the institutions were revived. Arguments for and against reinstating them were freely expressed given the new found freedom of expression and association. After heated debates the Constitution was amended in 1993, authorising the restoration of traditional leaders. This paved the way for the coronation of Prince Ronald Mutebi as the 26th Kabaka of Buganda; the late Prince Patrick Olimi Kaboyo, Omukama of Toro; Prince Solomon Iguru, Omukama of Bunyoro; and the coronation this February of Prince Henry Wako Muloki as the 3rd Kyabazinga (President of the Council of Hereditary Chiefs) of Busoga.

The position of the "President of the Council of Hereditary Chiefs," was established by British to ease administration over Busoga's 11 hereditary chieftainships. The Kyabazinga was chosen from amongst the five royal clans with links to the legendary Babiito dynasty. Genealogically, Uganda's Kings are said to have close links with the Babiito dynasty.
Unlike the others who seem to be widely accepted, the Kyabazinga of Busoga is charged with the task of bridging wide rifts among his subjects and, more challenging, bringing acceptance to an institution that is a creation of colonial powers.
As apolitical institutions, the Kings have been reintroduced as part of a state supported programme of cultural revivalism. It has been argued that Kings are the guardians of cultural identity and dignity. This view is based on a widely accepted concept that it is only the cultural traditions and norms that have the strength to bring peace and cooperation among Uganda's multifarious ethnic entities.(source:
http://www.safariweb.com/safarimate/boyking.htm)




   King Oyo sandwiched between Ugandan President Museveni and a Ghanaian Anlo chief Soglo during the 2004 coronation ceremony of the young king.



     King Oyo at his palace during his 2004 coronation


   King Oyo in a charming smile and meeting his people during 2004 coronation ceremony



Princess Katrina Ssangalyambogo of Buganda greets King Oyo at a past event.


 King Oyo in a suit being welcomed by Rev Baguma, an advisor to the King.


                      King Oyo at a state function



         King Oyo and his sister Princess Ruth Kumantale and mother, Queen
         mother Best Kemigisha



King Oyo (in casual wear) sitting on a couch with his sister Princess Ruth Kumantale









King of Toro gives a gift to the late Libyan leader Muamer Gaddafi in 2001



King Oyo in China



King Oyo being welcomed by his subjects to Uganda in April 2012 to partake in his sister`s wedding.



Late Gaddafi, President Museveni and king Oyo Nyimba walking to the ceremonial grounds.



Toro young men dancing to welcome their King



Princess Elizabeth of Toro,the former iconic supermodel welcomes his nephew the King of Toro,Omukama Oyo Nyimba home



Queen Mother Best Kemigisa, King Oyo and Col. Muammar Gadaffi 



King Oyo, his sister Kumantale and the queen mother,Best Kemigisha




People kneel down as a sign of respect to the young King




 
Left to right: King Oyo, Prince James Mugenyi, Queen Best K. Olimi (King Oyo`s mother), and Princess Nsemere Komuntale (King Oyo`s Princess Royal).



King Oyo in China
'
king Oyo



King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, (C) sits on his thrown over Leopard and lion pelts during his crowning ceremony in Fort Portal, Uganda on April 17, 2010. The young king had officially succeeded to the throne at the age of three when his father died of a heart attack in 1995, but coronation takes place only upon reaching adulthood. Despite Oyo�s apparent ambivalence regarding his official duties and the anachronism of a Jay-Z loving, Arsenal-supporting 18-year-old-king banging drums and blessing spears, no one interviewed on Saturday dismissed the importance of his job, or the role of his kingdom in modern Uganda. AFP PHOTO/ROBERTO SCHMIDT