BUGANDA: Exile's Return

When the signal came from the airport, the royal drums thundered into life for the first time in two years. To Buganda's 1,300,000 people, the noise announced the return of their beloved Kabaka (King). Thousands of gallons of banana beer had been brewed, garlands fashioned, 16 arches constructed over the processional route with banners proclaiming: "He has triumphed." Stiffly upright in his immaculate grey suit, 31-year-old Edward William Frederick David Walugembe Luwangula Mutebi—Kabaka Mutesi II—bowed stiffly to the right and left from his Rolls-Royce convertible as it rolled triumphantly toward his...