World’s youngest reigning monarch, Rukidi IV, dies at 34
Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, a Ugandan king who became the world’s youngest reigning monarch when he was crowned at the age of 3 in 1995, has died. He was 34.
Rukidi IV, the ruler of the small Kingdom of Tooro in Uganda’s west, died around 10 p.m. local time Thursday, Tooro Prime Minister Calvin Armstrong Rwomiire Akiiki announced.
“This is an immeasurable loss to the Royal Family, the people of Tooro and the nation of Uganda,” he said in a statement. “I call upon all the people of Tooro to remain united, calm and prayerful during this profoundly difficult time.”
The Tooro kingdom did not disclose the cause of King Oyo’s death. However, Akiiki claimed the king had been critically ill and seeking treatment in the US, according to local paper The Daily Monitor.
The unmarried king had left an heir and that “continuity of the Crown is assured,” said Balaam Barugahara, a minister in the government of President Yoweri Museveni.
Rukidi IV was made king when he was just three years old in Sept. 1995, after his father, Rukirabasaija Patrick David Matthew Kaboyo Olimi III, died at 49.
The king earned the Guinness World Record as the world’s youngest reigning monarch.
He was the 13th monarch of the kingdom, which was founded more than 200 years ago, and ruled over more than two million people.
While Uganda is officially a republic and ruled by an elected head of state, it contains several traditional monarchies that oversee their kingdoms, which have existed since pre-colonial times.
While their political power is largely symbolic, they wield significant cultural and social influence.
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