Kenya has a special place in the history of the current British monarchy, for it is while in Kenya that the then Princess Elizabeth learned of the death of her father. Being the heir to the throne, she, therefore, became queen while in the country, then a county of British colonial rule.
In February 1952, Princess Elizabeth and her husband began a Commonwealth tour with a visit to Kenya. News of her father, King George’s death reached the royal couple while in Kenya and it was the duty of Prince Phillip to break the news to his wife.
And so five days after arriving in Kenya, she left as a queen. More than a year later, her coronation, took place in Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953.
The hotel where they stayed while in Kenya was burned down by the Mau Mau, a resistance movement against the British colonialists but a new one was put up. It shut its doors last year due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A year earlier, on June 1st 1952, Kenya had attained internal self-rule, marking the end of the British Colonial Rule.
