Kiiza David Maclaren

The Toro Kingdom Fort Portal lies at the physical and political heart of Toro, the youngest of Uganda’s traditional kingdoms, ruled – aptly – by the world’s most youthful monarch, not quite four years old when he took the throne in 1995. Corresponding roughly with the present-day administrative districts of Kabarole and Kasese, Toro started life as a southern principality within the Bunyoro kingdom, from which it broke away to become an independent kingdom in the late 1820s under Prince Kaboyo, the son of the Bunyoro king, Nyakamaturu. In the mid-1820s, Nyakamaturu, reaching the end of his 50-year reign, was evidently regarded as a weak and unpopular ruler. As a result, Kaboyo, the king’s favourite son and chosen heir to the throne, had become impatient to claim his inheritance. In part, Kaboyo’s haste might have been linked to a perceived threat to his future status: Nyakamaturu had already survived at least one attempted overthrow by a less-favoured son, while the elders o