Elizabeth Nyabongo

Princess Elizabeth of Tooro (Elizabeth Christobel Edith Bagaaya Akiiki; born 9 February 1936 ) is a Ugandan lawyer, politician, diplomat and model who served as the Batebe (Princess Royal) of the Kingdom of Tooro, until 12 September 1995. She was succeeded in that role by her niece Omubiitokati (Princess) Ruth Nsemere Komuntale Farquharson Akiiki.

She was the first East African woman to be admitted to the English Bar. She is a paternal aunt (Isenkati) of notable figures; the 13th Omukama of Tooro, Rukidi IV, the current Batebe (Princess Royal) Omubiitokati (Princess) Ruth Nsemere Komuntale Farquharson Akiiki children of her brother the 12th Omukama of Tooro, Olimi III. Omubiitokati (Princess) Juliana Kanyomozi Akiiki and Omubiitokati (Princess) Laura Kahunde Abwooli children of her younger brother Omubiito (Prince) Gerald Philip Manyindo Atwooki. She briefly served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under President Idi Amin from February to November 1974.

Early life and education

The Princess was born in 1936 to Rukidi III of Tooro, the eleventh Omukama of Tooro who reigned between 1928 and 1965. Her mother was Queen Kezia, a daughter of Nikodemo Kakoro, a senior chief. Her title from birth was Omubiitokati meaning "princess." becoming the first woman from East Africa to be called to the English Bar.

In 1965, Nigerian co-producer Francis Oladele founded Calpenny Nigeria Limited, the first film production company in Nigeria after independence. The American-German-Nigerian production Things Fall Apart was his second film after Kongi's Harvest. Things Fall Apart was considered lost for decades until more than 2,000 stills by Stephen Goldblatt, production documents, correspondence, contemporary newspaper clippings, and more were found in a satellite storage of the Deutsche Kinemathek Berlin in 2019. This led to the development of an extensive research and digitization project on Nigerian film heritage, with exhibitions and screenings in Lagos, Kampala, Abidjan, Accra, and Atlanta, among other places. In his essay When 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.

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.

Exile and return

In February 1975, Elizabeth escaped to Kenya, then to Vienna, then to London.

During her exile, the British press fixated on Elizabeth. In 1976, Time Magazine reported that she had "pulled a hat trick" when she won her libel cases against three separate publications: "Defeated were: the Daily Express, which had printed Amin's false accusation that the princess had indulged in a sexual encounter in a public lavatory at Paris' Orly Airport, the Sunday Telegraph, which wrongly claimed she was pregnant with Amin's baby and the Sun, which mistakenly put her name in the caption for a nude photo."

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 Prince Leo Sharp Ochaki, escaped to London in 1980 and married in 1981.

In 1984, Elizabeth played the part of Shaman in the Columbia Pictures film Sheena: Queen of the Jungle. Later she wrote in her autobiography regarding the film: "It was badly written. But for me, Sheena expressed a certain truth, a certain reality, namely, that an indigenous culture, a way of life of a people, had suffered an assault at the hands of an alien one. The role of the Shaman, the defender of the indigenous culture in Sheena, had parallels with my own life and what had come to pass for Africa and our people."

Finally in 1985, Obote was overthrown and following a brief period of military rule, was replaced by Yoweri 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 the Vatican, Elizabeth accepted an appointment as Uganda's High Commissioner to Nigeria.