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Most major indicators show that the Ugandan economy is well on the road to recovery, and good times are coming. Inflation is down, growth is expected to be higher than anticipated, and as we get closer to the oil finally coming out of the ground, money is flowing into the country. So why are many Ugandans still crying about how difficult times are?

Anyway, we needed a break from all these negative vibes, and we got it with the wedding of the 4th Kyabazinga of Busoga, Wilberforce Nadiope IV, to a Ugandan economist, Jovia Mutesi.

Busoga had a reason to celebrate, and we hope all the pomp and glamour did translate into some economic gains for a region which has consistently ranked as the poorest in the country.

But, there is something about royalty that always fascinates the public, and although kings and queens are probably an endangered species these days, the countries that still have them hold them dear.

Top on the lists is the UK, the world’s last empire. It began its existence as England, and its first king on record was Alfred the Great, who died in 899 AD. But strictly speaking, there was no England then, just Anglo-Saxon fiefdoms fighting each other. It was not till his grandson Aethelstan defeated a combined force of Vikings, Scots and Welsh that England truly came into being.

So, when billions of people tuned in to watch the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018, that was more than a thousand years of history represented right there. England is not the oldest monarchy in the world, though; that distinction goes to Japan, which is traced back to around 660 BCE and has had 126 monarchs.

So, when the current Emperor’s daughter eventually gets married, that will be over 2,000 years represented. But the Japanese empire didn’t get much further than East Asia, so probably not many people will be fascinated by it all. And for a long time, Japan was closed to the rest of the world, anyway.

Among the top ten oldest kingdoms in the world listed by scholars are Cambodia (68 AD), Oman (751 AD), Morocco (788 AD), England (937 AD), Norway (872 AD), Denmark (710 AD), and Sweden (970 AD). Incidentally, the Vatican is listed among the oldest monarchies, but we know there will not be a royal wedding there.

Almost every African country has what are termed ‘constituent monarchs’, or traditional rulers within a sovereign state. When kingdoms were restored in 1995, Uganda had four: Buganda, Bunyoro, Toro and Busoga. But now every clan is clamouring to have a king, so we will probably get athousand ‘royal’ weddings in the near future.

Which brings me to the only royal wedding I have ever been to, that of the Kabaka of Buganda in 1999. I was at the wedding not as a guest, but as part of the New Vision media team that covered it.

The current ruling dynasty in Buganda traces its roots to Kabaka Kintu in the 13th century, but there were at least six kings of Buganda before that, so when the 36th Kabaka of Buganda said “I do” to Sylvia Nagginda, that was more than 800 years of the institution talking.

Understandably, the Baganda were ecstatic, as we were covering the occasion. We were divided into teams, each to cover a part of the wedding. There were those inside the church (who I thought were the lucky ones), and there were those to cover the reception in the Lubiri.

My team was outside Namirembe Cathedral, tasked with taking the traditional group pictures when the guests came out. Those are supposedly the most important pictures, the one everyone gets to see.

But we were bored, just standing there waiting for the service to end and for the newlyweds to come out. Because of the security, we couldn’t move from our assigned posts, not even to go the bathroom. So we waited.

We had been there a few hours when the Kabaka arrived, and entered the church. We waited for Nagginda to arrive next, and waited. She didn’t arrive till almost 30 minutes later, and that broke our boredom. Everyone was talking, who dared keep the Kabaka waiting?

Before this, for inspiration, we had pored over pictures of Prince Charles and Diana’s wedding about a decade earlier, and we had planned our shots accordingly. One of the pictures I liked was of Diana as she arrived at the church, still in her veil but looking really regal. I had wanted to take one of Nagginda like that, but when she arrived she looked all flustered because of the late arrival, and looked like if she could run into the church, she would have.

Anyway, so we waited. Is it something of a rule that kings don’t smile at such occasions? I looked at the pictures taken inside the cathedral and Kabaka Mutebi did not crack a single smile, like he could not wait for the whole thing to end.

He was still stony-faced when they came out and started lining up for the requisite photographs. Then, for a moment, he saw someone to the side and broke out into a wide grin. It lasted just a few seconds, and he went back to his stony-faced self. But that was enough time for me, and I took the picture.

It must have been the only time that the Kabaka smiled throughout the wedding, and that picture was on the front page of the New Vision the next day. It would also feature on the cover of many souvenir magazines of the wedding, and I bet New Vision must have made a tidy sum selling it to collectors.