Thousands of mourners lined the roads across Tooro on Friday as the body of King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV was returned to the kingdom, creating a sombre scene of grief and mourning.
Mourners gathered along the route from Kyegegwa through Fort Portal to the Karuzika Royal Palace, hoping to catch a final glimpse of the young monarch whose death has plunged Tooro into mourning.
King Oyo’s body was returned to Uganda on Friday, September 4, after he died in the United States on August 27 following a battle with cancer.
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni received the body at the airport before it was airlifted to Kyegegwa.
The helicopter carrying the King’s body from Entebbe landed at the Humura Primary School playground in Kyegegwa. The remains were then placed in a glass-sided Mercedes-Benz hearse and transported through Fort Portal to the Karuzika Royal Palace.
Along the route, thousands of Batooro and other mourners stood by the roadside, many dressed in traditional mourning attire, as the convoy carrying their King passed.
Some mourners were seen crying and chanting his royal titles, while others stood silently, reflecting on the death of a monarch who had been on the throne since 1995.
At the Karuzika Royal Palace, the King’s remains were received by the head of the Babiito royal clan, Charles Akiiki Kamurasi, also known as the Omusuuga, alongside members of the royal family, religious leaders and other dignitaries.
The arrival of the King’s body marked another major stage in Tooro’s mourning and preparations for his burial.
The Kingdom has begun a nine-day mourning period, during which subjects are expected to observe various traditional practices and restrictions.
King Oyo will be buried on September 12, the day he was crowned in 1995 and which would have marked his 31st coronation anniversary, known as Empango.
Before the burial, Tooro Kingdom is expected to install a new monarch to succeed King Oyo.
The King’s death at the age of 34 has sparked widespread mourning across Uganda, with his subjects remembering him as a monarch who ascended the throne as a child and grew into one of the country’s most recognisable cultural leaders.
