ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PRINCESS ELIZABETH BAGAYA. Princess Elizabeth Christobel Edith Bagaaya Akiiki of Tooro was born on February 9th, 1936, in Kabarole, the heart of the Tooro Kingdom in western Uganda. She is the eldest daughter of Omukama George Rukidi the Third and Queen Kezia, and she carries the title Omubiitokati from birth, a princess of the Babiito dynasty. Her education was extraordinary for her time. She studied at Kyebambe Girls School, then Gayaza High School, before heading to England's Sherborne School for Girls, where she was the only Black student. From there she went to Girton College, Cambridge one of only 3 African women at the university, and graduated with a law degree in 1962. Three years later she was called to the English Bar at Gray's Inn, becoming the first woman from East Africa to do so. She followed that by becoming Uganda's 1st female lawyer in 1966. When her father died in 1965, her brother Patrick Kaboyo Olimi the Third took the throne, and Elizabeth was installed as Batebe, the Princess Royal. That made her the most powerful woman in Tooro and the king's chief adviser, head of all the princesses, guardian of royal culture. Then came the modelling years. She walked runways in London and New York, appeared in British Vogue, American Vogue, Life, Ebony, and became the first Black woman on the cover of Harper's Bazaar. She even acted, including a role in the film Things Fall Apart. In 1971, Idi Amin appointed her roving ambassador. In February 1974, he made her Minister of Foreign Affairs, Uganda's first female cabinet minister. She led the delegation to the United Nations General Assembly and chaired the OAU group. But Amin had other motives. According to her own account, he wanted her as a wife. When she refused, he dismissed her in November, accused her of misconduct, and put her under house arrest. She fled into exile. She returned after Amin's fall, served as ambassador to the United States from 1986-88, then to Germany and the Holy See. In 1981 she married Wilberforce Nyabongo, an aviation engineer. He died in a plane crash in 1986. When kingdoms were restored in 1993, she came home to serve her brother again. After he died in 1995, his 3-year-old son Oyo was crowned king. Princess Bagaya became one of the principal regents, alongside the Queen Mother and President Museveni, guiding the boy until he came of age in 2010. She is his paternal aunt, and one of the women who raised him. She wrote her autobiography, African Princess, published in 1983. She turned 90yrs old this year. And today, at Entebbe, she stood beside the Queen Mother and President Museveni as King Oyo's body arrived home from Dallas, the same woman who helped place the crown on his head 31 years ago, now helping to say goodbye. #toorokingdom #RIPKINGOYO #ugandatiktok #viral #capcut - @nellypayn