| Elizabeth of Tooro | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Princess Elizabeth of Tooro, 1986 | |||||
| Born | 1936 (age 88–89) Tooro Kingdom | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
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| Dynasty | Babiito | ||||
| Father | Omukama Rukidi III of Tooro | ||||
| Mother | Queen Kezia | ||||
Princess Elizabeth of Tooro (Elizabeth Christobel Edith Bagaaya Akiiki; born 9 February 1936[1]) was theBatebe (Princess Royal) of theKingdom of Tooro until 12 September 1995, when she was succeeded by OmubiitokatiRuth Nsemere Komuntale. She is aUgandan lawyer, politician, diplomat, and model.
She was the first East African woman to be admitted to theEnglish Bar. She is apaternal aunt (Isenkati) of theOmukama of Tooro,Rukidi IV. She briefly served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under PresidentIdi Amin from February to November 1974.
The Princess was born in 1936 toRukidi III of Tooro, the eleventh Omukama of Tooro who reigned between 1928 and 1965. Her mother wasQueen Kezia,[2] a daughter of Nikodemo Kakoro, a senior chief.[citation needed] Her title from birth wasOmubiitokati orPrincess.
After finishing elementary school from the presentKyebambe Girls' Secondary School, she was sent toGayaza High School, a girls' boarding school inBuganda, followed bySherborne School for Girls in England, where she was the only black student.[2] "I felt that I was on trial and that my failure to excel would reflect badly on the entire black race," she later wrote. After one year, she was accepted intoGirton College, Cambridge, the third African woman to be admitted to theUniversity of Cambridge in the institution's history. In 1962, she graduated from Cambridge[2] with a law degree. Three years later, in 1965, the princess became abarrister-at-law as a member ofGray's Inn,[3] becoming the first woman from East Africa to be called to the EnglishBar.[2]
Around this time, her father died, and her brother Patrick David Matthew Kaboyo Olimi was enthroned asOlimi III, the twelfth Omukama of Tooro, who reigned from 1965 until 1995. At thecoronation, Elizabeth received the title and office ofBatebe (Princess Royal), which traditionally made her the most powerful woman in the Tooro Kingdom and the most trusted adviser of the king.[2]
King Fredrick Mutesa II ofBuganda, another of Uganda's traditional kingdoms, was now the president, with Prime MinisterMilton Obote. Barely one year after the coronation of the Omukama Olimi III, Obote attacked the Buganda Palace, sending Edward Muteesa II into exile, and declared himself president. Soon, he abolished all Ugandan traditional kingdoms, including the Tooro Kingdom.[2] Elizabeth was afraid for her brother's life, but he escaped to London.
Elizabeth later completed an internship at a law firm, and became Uganda's first female lawyer. She was a virtual prisoner in her own country untilPrincess Margaret of the United Kingdom sent her an invitation to model in a charity fashion show. The princess was a smash hit, and soon became a highly successful fashion model, being featured in many magazines. She was the first black model that graced the pages of Harper’s Bazaar in 1969, making history as one of the first African women to appear in high-fashion editorials.Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis met Elizabeth at a party, and convinced her to move to New York City.
In 1970, the novelThings Fall Apart byChinua Achebe was turned into a film of the same name - also known asBullfrog In The Sun - directed by the award-winning German filmmaker and producerHansjürgen Pohland and starred Princess Elizabeth of Tooro,Johnny Sekka andOrlando Martins. In her biography, she wrote: »So I threw myself headlong into the role of Clara and shortly afterwards, in the summer of 1970, I flew to Lagos in Nigeria for the shooting. Lagos was a revelation for me. From Kampala and Nairobi, I was used to almost everything being dominated by Asians and Europeans, so it impressed me all the more to see that Africans were in charge here.«[4]
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In 1965, Nigerian co-producer Francis Oladele founded Calpenny Nigeria Limited, the first film production company in Nigeria after independence. The American-German-Nigerian productionThings Fall Apart was his second film afterKongi's Harvest.Things Fall Apart was considered lost for decades until more than 2,000 stills byStephen Goldblatt, production documents, correspondence, contemporary newspaper clippings and more were found in a satellite storage of theDeutsche Kinemathek Berlin in 2019. This led to the development of an extensive research and digitisation project on Nigerian film heritage, with exhibitions and screenings in Lagos, Kampala, Abidjan, Accra and Atlanta, among other places.[5][6][7] In his essayWhen The Bullfrog Jumps In The Sun- Why Things Fall Apart is still a very relevant Black film till this day, Lagos-based contemporary artist Mallam Mudi Yahaya describes the complex background of the production.[8]
In 1971, Obote was overthrown by General Amin, and Elizabeth returned to Uganda. Amin's rule was arguably even more repressive than Obote's, with Amin executing and imprisoning many people. In 1974, Amin appointed Elizabeth minister of foreign affairs.
In February 1975, Elizabeth escaped toKenya, then toVienna, then to London. Four years later, Elizabeth returned to Uganda to help with the country's first free national elections, which were won by Obote, who continued killing his enemies. Elizabeth and her lover,Prince Wilberforce Nyabongo, son of PrinceLeo Sharp Ochaki, escaped to London in 1980 and married in 1981.[9] In 1984, Elizabeth played the part of Shaman in the Columbia Pictures filmSheena: Queen of the Jungle
Finally in 1985, Obote was overthrown and following a brief period of military rule, was replaced byYoweri Museveni. In 1986, Elizabeth was appointed ambassador to the United States, a job she held until 1988. Later that year, Nyabongo, an aviation engineer, was killed in a plane crash at the age of 32.
Following the death of her husband, Elizabeth opted to leave public service and get involved in charity work, in addition to being an official guardian of her brother's son,Rukidi IV, who was born in 1992 and has been the reigning Tooro monarch since 1995. Following a period of service as Uganda's Ambassador to Germany and theVatican, Elizabeth accepted an appointment as Uganda'sHigh Commissioner toNigeria.
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