Sagana State Lodge is a Kenyan state lodge, located in Kiganjo town in Nyeri County, on the foothills of Mount Kenya. Sagana Lodge was built as a royal residence.
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Construction and Royal Significance
It was built 1949-1950. It was a wedding present in 1947 to the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh (later the Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Elizabeth II respectively) from the colony whilst they were in Kenya.
Queen Elizabeth II's Ascension at Sagana Lodge
In 1952 Queen Elizabeth II was staying at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya when she ascended the throne. At Sagana Lodge she was told of her father King George VI's death and of her own succession to the throne-a unique circumstance for any such event.
She was the first British monarch since the accession of William IV in 1830 to be outside the United Kingdom at the moment of succession, and also the first in modern times not to know the exact time of her accession (because her father had died in his sleep at an unknown time).
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Even before this visit, the colony was already fond of the princess. The first dual-carriageway in Nairobi was named Princess Elizabeth Highway (now Uhuru Highway). The Royal State Lodge in Sagana had also been conferred to her as ‘a wedding gift from the people of Kenya’ in 1949 although she had never had a chance to see it.
Upon her arrival at Nairobi Airport, she was greeted by African chiefs and their wives as well as the colonial leadership. She was almost trampled by an elephant that showed up 11 yards in front of her just as she was approaching the ladder that would take her to the lobby. Rather than panic she cooly made her way to the ladder in slow unalarming movements and safely ascended it.
Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne in 1953 while touring Kenya
Treetops Hotel Nyeri in 1952
She spent the night there with her husband and consort Prince Philip and unbeknownst to them, King George VI passed on. By the time she was making it down for the journey to the Royal State Lodge, she was no longer a princess. When the coded message announcing the king’s death was telegrammed to Sagana, no one was there to decipher it.
That ran the risk of the princess finding out about her father’s demise via unofficial channels. Luckily, one of the reporters in the caravan got the news and announced it to Elizabeth’s private secretary, Martin Charteris. The news was shocking and it cut the trip short before she was able to enjoy her wedding gift.
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First, though she made her way to Government House where the governor had just jetted back in to read to her the proclamation of her ascension. It was therefore in Nairobi where Princess Elizabeth officially became Queen and after her coronation would go on to be the longest reigning monarch in British History having ruled for 70 years. This was the first time in 200 years that a British Monarch was ascending the throne while they were abroad.
In her honor, the road leading from Government Road (Moi Avenue) to Parliament Road was named Queensway (Mama Ngina Street).
Princess Margaret inspecting a guard of honor in Nairobi (via Pinterest)
Post-Ascension Events
Not long after Queen Elizabeth’s departure, the Maumau insurgence, which had been secretly growing, erupted into an all-out war. A State of Emergency was declared in October 20th 1952 after the murder of Senior Chief Waruhiu who was one of the African leaders presented to Princess Elizabeth at the airport.
In the years of the emergency, movement was limited and there was a daytime curfew as Africans were herded into restricted villages. Although the war was particularly bad in 1953 and ’54, it had relatively cooled off by 1956.
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In a bid to repopularise their favoured destination, Princess Margaret was set to visit the colony in September 1956. She arrived at the port of Mombasa where no expense was spared in the preparation for her reception. As per the usual format she was greeted by the Governor and various Coastal leaders before her journey into the hinterland via the railway. She made stops at Machakos where she inspected a guard of scouts in a beautiful ceremony.
In Nairobi, she held several garden parties in Government House and visited the various attractions in Nairobi including the hotels alluring to tourists on Safari. The British elite had a chance to rub shoulders with royalty before she departed to Nakuru. In Kakamega, Princess Margaret was able to make good on a promise Queen Elizabeth had made 2 years earlier.
She visited James Shiraku Inyundo, a railway worker who had built the first brick house in Western Kenya. The queen had promised to visit him but had not gotten a chance to and it was her sister who had the honor of ‘officially opening’ his home. It remains to this day as Martha’s Guest House and is a Heritage Museum.
Treetops Hotel and Queen Elizabeth's Legacy
Kenya in East Africa is where Princess Elizabeth became the Queen of the United Kingdom. On an official tour of the Commonwealth as Princess Elizabeth, accompanied by her husband, Philip the Duke of Edinburgh, she climbed the wooden ladder to the famous wild animal spotting location and spent the night up in the trees. Treetops, a four-star hotel in Aberdare National Park, is near Nyeri town in the shadow of Mount Kenya.
Starting with just two rooms in the trees next to a watering hole frequented by elephants and other wildlife, Treetops opened in 1932. It was 6 February 1952 when the 25-year-old princess and her husband were at Treetops. “The princess climbed up to a look-out point at the top of the tree to see the dawn breaking.
Lady Pamela Hicks, who was the Queen’s lady in waiting and also Philip’s cousin, said the Queen and the duke were “the last people in the world to hear” that the King had died. “She goes up as a princess. The king dies that night. Philip had to break the sad news to his wife while they were alone. Elizabeth’s mourning clothes were waiting for her in Nairobi. The visit of Princess Elizabeth rocketed the fame of Treetops.
Following the media hype over the accession of Elizabeth II, Treetops attracted a large number of rich and famous people. The Queen later made two more visits to Kenya during the reign of President Moi. Meanwhile, Treetops enjoyed worldwide fame due to Elizabeth’s visit. Comfortable bedrooms with attached bathrooms, it has observation lounges and modern facilities like the Internet.
Your arrival is made dramatic when you leave Nyeri on a four-wheel drive to venture into the thick forest. As the vehicle stops, a hunter with a gun, warns you to be extra careful and look out for wildlife. Once you check in, you can go to the rooftop for tea and start looking over the forest and the salt lick. Later, you can climb down to the observation lounge and have cocktails while watching out for animals at dusk. Soon it is dinner and after a hearty meal, you can retire to your room. The staff informs you that you can avail of a bell to be alerted of wild animals at the salt lick, if you so desire.
Historical Context
It all started about fifty years earlier when the Uganda Railway was built and reached Nairobi in 1896. The Africans farmed on the temperate slopes around Mount Kenya and herded animals in the plains of the Great Rift Valley. When more Britishers arrived in this new colony, they took over the land around Mount Kenya and it came to be called White Highlands. The vast plains in the Rift Valley were also fenced for cattle ranching.
While pressing for freedom, Kenya’s charismatic leader and later its first president, Jomo Kenyatta, famously said that the white man had a book (The Bible) when he came to Kenya and the African had the land. The campaign for freedom started in 1920s and early 1930s when African leaders started demanding human rights, first as workers and later as citizens. When Elizabeth visited Kenya, this movement was gathering pace in early 1950s and continued until 1960. In fact, it was the Mau Mau who had burnt down Treetops in 1954.
An Emergency was declared and the rulers had a free hand. With the local police and administration, they unleashed a horrendous, powerful and bloody response. Thousands were picked up and sent to ‘detention camps’ where they were beaten and tortured to extract information. The detainees also suffered malnutrition, starvation and disease due to the inhuman conditions. Hundreds of suspects were hanged.
The number of deaths of Africans during the Emergency is disputed. The estimates range from 25,000 to 50,000 but go up to 130,000 and 300,000. How many were killed by Mau Mau? To date, these documents remain in the UK and are yet to be repatriated to the colonies they were stolen from. The petitioners were paid a paltry sum as compensation.
Later Use and Significance
The lease was given back to Kenya in 1963.
In 1976 it, along with several other official residences of the President of Kenya were declared protected zones. The lodge's most prominent use, in independent Kenya's history was when Mwai Kibaki, then the president of Kenya, and Raila Odinga, used the site as a retreat to come to agreement on Kenya's grand coalition government.
There were two bedrooms, a sitting room, and a dining room.
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