In Toro, Uganda
Princess Elizabeth
The former foreign minister of Uganda fled the country to escape death for refusing to marry Idi Amin.
By Franky Knapp
Today we bring you to look at a lesser known royal.She is Uganda's Princess Elizabeth of Toro, she is a lawyer. Actress, top model, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uganda and Ambassador to the United States. Worked in Germany and the Vatican in the 1960s. She was a Cambridge graduate and the first East African woman to become a lawyer with an English Western education and later worked in Uganda. She later fled the country during Uganda's dictator Idi Amin. She survived Idi Amin's brutal regimes, periods of exile and prejudice.
She was born Elizabeth Christobel Edith Bagaya Akiki in Toro in 1936, a princess of one of the five ancient 15th-century kingdoms bordering Uganda. In fact, the kingdom known as "Turo" was one associated with ancient Egyptian rule and practices. The subjects buried their royals in the same manner as an Egyptian pharaoh.
Among the photos...
Her father (pictured left), George Rukidi, is with King "Omukama". On the right is her mother, Queen Keziah, another woman of stern character and her husband's chief adviser.
Touro was still under the control of the British Empire at the time – a true two-way affair for the princess. On the one hand, Elizabeth had access to England for an excellent education.
First attended top schools in Uganda., "My failure to excel will reflect badly on the entire black nation." A year later, she entered the prestigious Cambridge University to study law.
She was the first East African woman to be admitted to the English legal profession, marking the beginning of a long career for Elizabeth, who had a distinguished career in politics both within and outside her kingdom.
After her father passed away, she recounted in her autobiography, "I was the chief adviser to my brother, the King of Toro." Her words resonated most in the king's ears.
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It was a very turbulent period for Touro, with the monarchy abolished in 1967 and not reinstated until the early 90s. Princess Margaret, a friend of the Ugandan princess, jumped in to effectively rescue her from being a prisoner of her own land. Margaret took her to a fashion show in London as a gesture of solidarity for being part of the royal family, pushing another fun past time for the princess: posing for high fashion.
Elizabeth became an instant hit and even caught the eye of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, who convinced her to move to New York.
"I was the first black woman to be included in American fashion life and appear on the cover of Harper's Bazaar," she writes. "I have always been a symbol of what a black person can be in any field."
Among the photos..the famous Harper's cover...photographed by Yale Joel for LIFE magazine on October 17, 1969..
She also starred in the film adaptation of Chinua Achebe's classic, Things Fall Apart and No Longer at Ease. Elizabeth explained that the film was “based on Igboland, a region in eastern Nigeria” and “intended to expose the influence of Western civilization on Africa”. She was on top of the world - but her homeland was in its own political boiling point.
By the 1970s, the late dictator Idi Amin, the "Hitler of Africa," had taken complete control of the country. He demanded that all Ugandans of Asian descent (about 60,000 people) leave their homeland in 90 days, and instilled violence, greed and, above all, fear in his citizens. He offered Elizabeth the position of Foreign Minister, and let's just say that when a dictator 'offers' you a role, you really can't refuse. It was a sad period in the princess's life that called for a serious blend of intelligence and social tact. It was a matter of survival, but when she refused to marry Amin, she was fired.
“Some people who were watching my post told Idi Amin that I was plotting to overthrow him and he put me under house arrest. But international and domestic pressures could have killed me. I managed to escape and returned to Uganda in 1980.”
To this day, she remains an icon and an inspiration to her people – but her story is still largely ignored. "I want to see Africa work towards achieving a true and authentic African identity," she wrote about her work in politics as well as developing ways to ensure that cultures and values are well promoted and protected.
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