New Tooro King in Uganda

King (Omukama) Edward Rukidi Nyabongo I was enthroned this week, alongside Queen Rebecca Amoding Rukidi, during a solemn ceremony in Fort Portal, West Uganda. 

The King is dead. Long live the King. The Tooro Kingdom in western Uganda is celebrating their new monarch, a 56-year-old journalist and editor who previously worked for the Ugandan public broadcaster UBC. The small kingdom is one of Uganda’s 17 traditional monarchies. King Edward’s succession did not come without controversy, following the untimely death of the “Boy King” of Tooro, King (Omukama) Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Rukidi IV.

The previous King ascended the throne at only three years old and was supported by three regents, including his mother. His coronation was held in 2001 when he turned 18. He reigned over a changing country, focusing on his people’s well-being. The late King was widely regarded for his modern approaches to healthcare, tourism and development. He never married nor had any children.

Last year, he began to feel intense unexplained pains in his back and hip region. What was initially dismissed turned out to be angiosarcoma, an aggressive form of cancer. King Oyo died at 2 pm on 27 August 2026, in Dallas, Texas, where he had been receiving treatment for his cancer, having reigned for 31 years. He was 34 years old.

What followed was a brutal succession crisis as the late King had no living son. A committee of 21 elders from the Kingdom’s ruling clan (Babiito) selected the new King from a pool of eligible Princes. However, the late King’s mother, Queen Mother Best Kemigisa and members of his family fervently disputed the new successor, stating that the written testament of King Oyo was not followed, going so far as to state that the late King had an unknown son who would be ‘revealed’ at the appropriate time. The Babiito continued with its selection of Nyabongo I as the new King.

Who is King Edward (Nyabongo I)? The new King of the Tooro Kingdom is the son of Prince Christopher Paul Kijanangoma and Yusta Asiimwe Kijanangoma Amooti. He is a grandson of Omukama Sir George David Kamurasi Rukidi III and a descendant of Kaboyo Kasusunkwanzi Olimi I, the founder and first Omukama of the Tooro Kingdom. He is a cousin of the late King Oyo.

King Edward is married to Queen (Omugo) Rebecca Amoding-Rukidi. Their Majesties married in 2018 and have no children. There was also some controversy around the new Queen. Her Majesty is from Teso, outside the traditional cultural boundaries of Tooro. The traditional requirement is that the Omukama’s wife must come from inside Tooro. This means any future children the King and Queen have will not automatically fall in the line of succession, as they must be born to a mother from one of the Kingdom’s recognised clans.

This week, the new King was crowned in an elaborate ceremony at the Royal Palace in Karuziika. Thousands attended in person to watch their new leader make an address in which he pledged to be a unifying figure in his new reign. The ceremonies also included traditional dances, a mock fight, the slaughter of a bull, and the sprinkling of a hen’s blood.