Uganda’s Tooro Kingdom has selected Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, a television news anchor and editor with the state-run broadcaster UBC, as the successor to the late King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV.
The announcement was made by the kingdom’s royal clan succession committee in Fort Portal on Wednesday. King Oyo, who died in the United States on August 27 at the age of 34 while receiving cancer treatment, became the world’s youngest reigning monarch when he ascended the throne at just three years old in 1995.
However, the succession decision has sparked disagreement within the royal family. Princess Ruth Komuntale, King Oyo’s only sister, said she and their mother, Queen Mother Best Kemigisa, rejected Kijanangoma’s selection.
She claimed that King Oyo left a will naming his son as heir to the throne and specifying a preferred successor if his son could not assume the crown.
King Oyo’s remains were returned to Uganda on Friday, with his burial scheduled for Saturday at the royal tombs near his palace in Fort Portal.
