BAGAYA: The Tooro Princess Who Has Seen It All — including with Idi Amin and on International Stage

At 90, Princess Elizabeth Bagaya of Tooro carries a biography that reads almost like a history of modern Uganda.

She has been a princess, lawyer, international fashion model, actress, diplomat, Foreign Minister and ambassador. She has lived through the abolition of Uganda’s kingdoms, political upheaval, Idi Amin’s dictatorship, exile, the restoration of traditional institutions and the long reign of her nephew, Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV.

Few members of Uganda’s royal families have travelled such an extraordinary road.

And few have crossed so many worlds.

Born into Tooro royalty

Elizabeth Christobel Edith Bagaaya was born on February 9, 1936, into the Tooro royal family, the daughter of Omukama George David Matthew Kamurasi Rukidi III and Queen Kezia Byanjeru.

Her younger brother, Patrick Matthew Kaboyo Olimi III, would eventually succeed their father as Omukama of Tooro.

Bagaya’s early education included Kyebambe Girls School and Gayaza High School. She later travelled to England, where she attended Sherborne School for Girls before joining Girton College, Cambridge.

In 1962, she graduated with a law degree.

Three years later, she was called to the English Bar at Gray’s Inn, becoming the first East African woman admitted to the English Bar. She later became the first woman admitted to the Ugandan Bar.

The princess was already a pioneer before the world discovered her in another profession.

From the courtroom to the catwalk

The death of her father in 1965 changed the direction of Bagaya’s life.

Her brother succeeded him as Omukama, and Bagaya became Batebe, or Princess Royal, placing her close to the centre of the Tooro royal establishment.

But Uganda was entering a turbulent period.

In 1967, the traditional kingdoms were abolished, stripping the royal institutions of their official status.

For Bagaya, however, another world was opening.

An invitation associated with Princess Margaret brought her to a Commonwealth fashion show in London. She appeared on the runway wearing an outfit from a Ugandan collection.

The appearance opened the door to an international modelling career.

Bagaya went on to work in London and New York, appearing in major fashion publications including Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. Her striking image also appeared in Life and Ebony.

Her 1969 appearance on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar became one of the defining moments of her modelling career.

There is, however, an important distinction. Bagaya was not the first Black woman to appear on a major fashion magazine cover. Donyale Luna had already appeared on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar in 1965.

Bagaya was nevertheless one of the pioneering African models of her generation, bringing the image of an African princess into the international fashion world at a time when the industry remained overwhelmingly white.

And modelling was only one of the identities she would acquire.

The princess who became an actress

Bagaya’s international career eventually took her from the catwalk to the screen.

She trained at the American Place Theatre in New York and ventured into acting, appearing in films including Bullfrog in the Sun, a screen adaptation of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and No Longer at Ease.

She later appeared in Sheena: Queen of the Jungle, the 1984 adventure film starring Tanya Roberts.

The roles added another unusual chapter to her biography.

By then, Bagaya was no longer simply a Tooro princess or a Cambridge-trained lawyer. She had become an international model and actress whose career had taken her into worlds far removed from the royal palace where she was born.

But Uganda was calling her back.

Then came Idi Amin

In 1971, Idi Amin seized power.

Bagaya returned to Uganda and entered diplomacy.

She served as an ambassador-at-large before being appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs in February 1974.

For several months, the former Cambridge law student, model and actress was Uganda’s top diplomat.

Then her relationship with Amin deteriorated.

The Amin scandal that changed everything

Bagaya’s fall from grace under Amin remains one of the most controversial chapters of her life.

Accounts of the period say Amin wanted Bagaya to marry him.

She refused.

What followed was a dramatic collapse in her position.

Bagaya was dismissed from government and detained. She was subsequently subjected to allegations that became international news.

Amin publicly accused her of having an intimate encounter with a European man in a restroom at Paris’ Orly Airport while returning from an overseas assignment.

Bagaya denied the allegation.

The sensational claim became part of the campaign against her, while she maintained that the accusations were false.

The episode became one of the most humiliating and dangerous periods of Bagaya’s life.

She was not simply losing a government position. She was being publicly attacked by the head of state she had served and facing a regime that had already demonstrated its willingness to imprison or eliminate perceived enemies.

She eventually escaped Uganda and went into exile.

The allegations followed her into the international press, but so did her fight to defend her reputation.

Behind the lurid headlines was a much more serious reality: a royal princess, lawyer and former Foreign Minister had fallen out with one of Africa’s most feared dictators and was now fighting for her freedom and reputation.

That chapter would permanently change the course of her life.

Exile, marriage and tragedy

Bagaya eventually returned to Uganda after Amin’s overthrow in 1979.

But political instability continued. She later left the country again during Milton Obote’s second government and returned after the political changes of 1985.

In 1981, she married Prince Wilburforce Nyabongo.

Their marriage ended in tragedy.

Nyabongo died in a plane crash in December 1986, only months after Bagaya had been appointed Uganda’s ambassador to the United States.

His death profoundly affected her.

In 1988, Bagaya resigned from public service.

The following year, she published her autobiography, Elizabeth of Toro: The Odyssey of an African Princess.

The title captured the extraordinary journey she had already travelled.

By then, her life had taken her from a royal palace to Cambridge, from the courtroom to the catwalk, from acting to the Cabinet, from diplomatic receptions to political exile.

And still, her journey was not over.

Ambassador to America

In 1986, President Yoweri Museveni appointed Bagaya Uganda’s ambassador to the United States.

The appointment brought together several worlds she already knew intimately: diplomacy, politics, international society and the media.

She arrived in Washington with the unusual credentials of a royal, lawyer, former model, actress and experienced diplomat.

Her assignment came at a critical moment for Uganda, whose international image was still heavily shaped by the turmoil and brutality of the preceding decades.

But even as she resumed her diplomatic career, tragedy had followed her across continents.

The death of her husband left a deep personal wound.

Within two years, she would walk away from formal public service.

The return to Tooro

Uganda restored its traditional cultural institutions in 1993.

For Bagaya, the restoration represented another homecoming.

She returned to Tooro and resumed an important role within the royal family.

Then came another defining moment.

In 1995, her brother, King Patrick Kaboyo Olimi III, died.

His son, Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, inherited the throne.

He was only three years old.

The child became one of the world’s youngest reigning monarchs.

Bagaya was among the senior members of the royal family involved in guiding the young king as he grew up.

She watched Oyo move from childhood into adulthood and eventually become a mature monarch who represented Tooro at home and abroad.

Their relationship stretched across more than three decades.

She saw him as a little boy entering the throne room.

She watched him grow.

She watched him become king.

And now she has watched him return home in a coffin.

The photograph that says more than words

That is what makes the photograph of Bagaya during Oyo’s final journey so powerful.

There is no catwalk.

No diplomatic reception.

No fashion shoot.

No royal celebration.

Instead, there is an elderly princess in mourning.

Her face is heavy with grief as she stands among members of the royal family during the solemn return of Oyo’s remains to Uganda.

It is a striking image because it captures something that a long biography cannot easily convey: the weight of a lifetime of memories and losses converging in one moment.

Bagaya has seen her family change across generations.

She lost her father.

She lost her brother.

She lost her husband.

She watched Uganda’s kingdoms disappear.

She later witnessed their restoration.

She watched her nephew ascend the throne as a three-year-old.

She watched him grow into a mature monarch.

And now she has watched his coffin come home.

The journey of Oyo’s remains through western Uganda was therefore more than a royal procession.

It was a homecoming marked by grief.

Thousands lined the roads to pay their respects as the fallen king was taken towards Fort Portal and Karuziika Palace.

Among them was Bagaya, the princess whose own life has been intertwined with some of the most dramatic chapters in Tooro and Uganda’s history.

The princess who has seen it all

Bagaya’s story is bigger than royalty.

She belongs to a remarkable generation of African women who crossed boundaries that were rarely open to them.

She was educated in Britain when opportunities for African women were severely limited.

She entered the legal profession.

She became an international fashion figure.

She ventured into acting.

She entered government.

She became Foreign Minister.

She survived political persecution and exile.

She returned to diplomacy.

She represented Uganda in Washington.

She endured profound personal loss.

And eventually, she returned to the kingdom where her story began.

Now, at 90, she remains one of the most recognisable links to the generation of Tooro royals who experienced Uganda before independence.

And the photograph of her mourning beside the remains of King Oyo perhaps tells the story more powerfully than any résumé.

The glamorous princess of the 1960s is still there.

But so is the woman who has endured political upheaval, exile, bereavement, family tragedy and the passing of generations.

She has seen kingdoms abolished.

She has seen them restored.

She has seen kings crowned.

She has seen a king she helped guide return home for burial.

From the royal palace to the courtroom.

From the catwalk to the Cabinet.

From the cinema to diplomacy.

From diplomatic receptions to exile.

From Washington back to Tooro.

Few princesses have travelled such a road.

Princess Elizabeth Bagaya has truly seen it all.

You can read about the pain that queen Mother Best Kemigisa has had to endure over the years — losing a son and King years after losing her husband and daughter Here.

Read interesting facts about a new king George Desmond Kamurasi who will replace Oyo Here and There.