Lady Damalie remained regal to the end

Jul 18, 2010

TODAY at 2:00pm, former Nabagereka of Buganda, Lady Damalie Kisosonkole is to be interred at the Namirembe Cathedral cemetery. The first wife (Nabagereka) of Kabaka Edward Muteesa II passed on last week at the age of 81, following a long illness.

By Joseph Ssemutooke

TODAY at 2:00pm, former Nabagereka of Buganda, Lady Damalie Kisosonkole is to be interred at the Namirembe Cathedral cemetery. The first wife (Nabagereka) of Kabaka Edward Muteesa II passed on last week at the age of 81, following a long illness.

Muteesa II and Lady Damalie were joined in holy matrimony on Saturday, November 19, 1948, at Namirembe Cathedral, in a glitzy wedding befitting a king, with thousands of Muteesa’s subjects present to witness the king taking his first wife.

Since her wedding to Muteesa II, Lady Damalie has had a checquered history with the Mengo establishment. To understand that history, you need to go back in time to the early 1940s before she got married to Kabaka Muteesa II.

In his book, Desecration of My Kingdom, Mutesa II says the two had first known each other at King’s College Budo, where they both studied. Damalie’s younger sister Sarah, was also at Budo at the time.

It is said the young prince had fallen head over heels in love with Sarah and the two reportedly got engaged soon after, but broke it off after a misunderstanding, and in a fit of revenge, he announced that he was going to marry Damalie.

To prepare for her role as Nabagereka, Damalie flew to England for a special course at Sherbone, where she was groomed in etiquette and conduct befitting a queen.

The Kabaka was completing his studies at Cambridge University at the time and the two would occasionally meet.
But, not all was rosy for the two, as Muteesa wrote: “The wedding, which should have been hers (Sarah’s), visibly distressed her although she tried to mask her pain.

“There is a photograph of her looking at the ground, hiding whatever emotion she may have felt. She did not witness the signing of the register.”

Sarah’s misery, however, did not last long. It was not long before the Kabaka installed her as his wife (kabejja) and mother of his son and eventual successor Prince Ronald Muwenda Mutebi II.

Lady Damalie Kisosonkole was born in 1929 to C.M Kisosonkole, a prime minister during Kabaka Daudi Chwa’s reign. Her mother was a daughter to Ham Mukasa, the county chief of Kyaggwe.

Since the death of her husband in 1969, Lady Damalie had been living a quiet life out of the limelight, in a three bedroom house in Rubaga.

The stand-off between Lady Damalie and the Kabaka was an open secret and efforts were made by Bishop Stuart to counsel the couple, but without success.

Damalie kept a dignified silence, although she continued to attend formal functions with the Kabaka.
Sarah died in the 1970s. It is said the two reconciled shortly after Mutesa’s death.

Among other things, Lady Damalie was Uganda’s first First Lady, when Muteesa II served as president of Uganda between 1962 and 1966.

Her firm yet dignified courage to enter a stand-off with Kabaka Muteesa is said to have inspired many women who were gradually beginning to find their feet in politics, at a time when the women’s emancipation movement was just gaining momentum.

She is survived by two children, Princess Dorothy Nassolo Kabonesa, an under-secretary in the Ministry of Health and Prince Henry Kalemeera, who works with an airline company in the UK.

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