The Tooro Kingdom announced the death of Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, aged 34, the traditional monarch who took a western Ugandan throne as a toddler and kept the unofficial title of the world’s youngest king. Prime Minister Calvin Armstrong Rwomiire Akiiki put out the statement late Thursday, DW reported, without a cause of death. The Independent, in London, carried it Friday and said Ugandans had not been told he was receiving care abroad for an undisclosed illness. “The continuity of the Crown is assured,” Akiiki said. “His Majesty leaves behind a Prince as his heir, whose identity will be formally revealed at the appropriate time.”
Oyo was born April 16, 1992, and was crowned in 1995, at three, after his father, Patrick Kaboyo Olimi III, died. He went through the rituals and came out King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV. Regents ran the kingdom until he came of age; President Yoweri Museveni attended the 18th-birthday ceremonies in Fort Portal in 2010. Guinness, in 2025, still listed him as the youngest reigning monarch. He was unmarried. Muammar Gaddafi used to visit. A cousin tried and failed to claim the stool in 2015 while Oyo was studying in Britain.
Uganda is a republic. The old kingdoms were banned after independence and restored in 1993. They are not allowed to do party politics; they still sit on culture, and Tooro’s seat is Fort Portal, near the Congo border. Deputy parliament speaker Thomas Tayebwa called the death “very difficult to comprehend.” Bobi Wine sent condolences. The prince has a name. The kingdom has not said it yet.
Sources: The Independent (UK); Deutsche Welle.
