Ruth Williams Khama
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Ruth Williams Khama, Lady Khama (née Williams; 9 December 1923 – 22 May 2002) was the wife of
Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...
's first president Sir
Seretse Khama Sir Seretse Goitsebeng Maphiri Khama, GCB, KBE (1 July 1921 – 13 July 1980) was a Motswana politician who served as the first President of Botswana, a post he held from 1966 to his death in 1980. Born into an influential royal famil ...
, the
Paramount Chief A paramount chief is the English-language designation for a king or queen or the highest-level political leader in a regional or local polity or country administered politically with a Chiefdom, chief-based system. This term is used occasionally ...
of its
Bamangwato The Bamangwato (more correctly BagammaNgwato, and also referred to as the BaNgwato or Ngwato) is one of the eight "principal" Tswana chieftaincies of Botswana. The modern Bamangwato formed in the Central Serowe, Palapye & Mahalapye District, wit ...
tribe. She served as the inaugural First Lady of Botswana from 1966 to 1980.


Early life

Khama was born in Meadowcourt Road, Blackheath in
South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...
, the daughter of George and Dorothy Williams. Her father had served as a captain in the
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
in India, and later worked in the tea trade. She had a sister, Muriel (later Muriel Sanderson), with whom she remained close. She was educated at Eltham Hill Grammar School and then served as a WAAF ambulance driver at various airfields in the south of England during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. After the war, she worked as a clerk for Cuthbert Heath, a firm of
underwriters Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liability ...
at
Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is a insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gover ...
.


Marriage

In June 1947, at a dance at Nutford House organised by the
London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed tradition, Reformed in outlook, with ...
, her sister introduced her to Prince Seretse Khama. He was the son of the ''Kgosi'' (a
Bamangwato The Bamangwato (more correctly BagammaNgwato, and also referred to as the BaNgwato or Ngwato) is one of the eight "principal" Tswana chieftaincies of Botswana. The modern Bamangwato formed in the Central Serowe, Palapye & Mahalapye District, wit ...
title equivalent to "king", though the British government prefers "paramount chief"), Sekgoma II, of the Bamangwato people and was studying law at
Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...
in London after a year at
Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...
. The couple were both fans of jazz music, particularly
The Ink Spots The Ink Spots were an American vocal pop group who gained international fame in the 1930s and 1940s. Their unique musical style predated the rhythm and blues and rock and roll musical genres, and the subgenre doo-wop. The Ink Spots were widely ...
, and quickly fell in love.
Seretse Khama Sir Seretse Goitsebeng Maphiri Khama, GCB, KBE (1 July 1921 – 13 July 1980) was a Motswana politician who served as the first President of Botswana, a post he held from 1966 to his death in 1980. Born into an influential royal famil ...
was the first black man she had ever spoken to. Their plans to marry caused controversy with elders in Bechuanaland and the government of South Africa, which had recently instituted the system of racial segregation known as
apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English:  , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
. Britain was developing an atomic bomb which was felt necessary to maintain Britain's claim to be a great power and it was felt crucial that the supplies of uranium come from within the Commonwealth; South Africa happened to be endowed with much uranium which could be mined cheaply via open pit mining out on the ''
veld Veld ( or , Afrikaans language, Afrikaans and Dutch language, Dutch: ''veld'', field), also spelled veldt, is a type of wide-open, rural landscape in Southern Africa. Particularly, it is a flat area covered in grass or low scrubland, scrub, ...
'' by black South African miners who were paid wages considerably lower than the white miners. Uranium could also be obtained elsewhere in the Commonwealth such as from Canada, but the Canadian uranium was mined via deep shaft mining in the far north by well paid miners, making the Canadian uranium far more expensive than the South African uranium. Thus for reasons of cost, the British government much preferred to buy South African uranium for its atomic bomb program. The South African government made it very clear that its willingness to supply uranium for the British nuclear program was contingent upon stopping the marriage. The British government intervened to stop the marriage. Both Ruth and Seretse were Anglicans who wanted to be married within the Church of England, but neither could find a priest willing to marry them. The
Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...
,
William Wand John William Charles Wand, (25 January 1885 – 16 August 1977) was an English Anglican bishop. He was the Archbishop of Brisbane in Australia before returning to England to become the Bishop of Bath and Wells and, later, Bishop of London. ...
, said he would permit a church wedding only if the government agreed. The couple married at Kensington Register Office on 29 September 1948."Lady Khama (Ruth Williams)"
''
The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...
'', 30 May 2002.
The marriage attracted much media attention as the Canadian journalist Mackenzie Porter wrote in 1952: "The Press treated their marriage as front-page news. Here, flouting all the dangers he knew to be implicit in nter-racial marriage was the scion of the ancient and illustrious House of Khama...And here, seeking to be an African queen, was an English working girl who had been reared to expect nothing more exotic than a semi-detached house in one of London’s great dormitories and a husband who every morning would don his bowler hat, seize his umbrella and catch a red double-decker bus to the city."
D. F. Malan Daniël François Malan (; 22 May 1874 – 7 February 1959) was a South Africa, South African politician who served as the fourth prime minister of South Africa from 1948 to 1954. The National Party (South Africa), National Party impleme ...
, then the
Prime Minister of South Africa The prime minister of South Africa ( was the head of government in South Africa between 1910 and 1984. History of the office The position of Prime Minister was established in 1910, when the Union of South Africa was formed. He was appointed ...
, described their marriage as "nauseating".
Julius Nyerere Julius Kambarage Nyerere (; 13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian politician, anti-colonial activist, and political theorist. He governed Tanganyika (1961–1964), Tanganyika as prime minister from 1961 to 1962 and then as presid ...
, then a student teacher and later
President of Tanzania The President of the United Republic of Tanzania () is the head of state and head of government of Tanzania. Samia Suluhu Hassan, sworn in on 19 March 2021, is the first female president of the United Republic of Tanzania. She succeeded John ...
, said it was "one of the great love stories of the world".


Arrival in Bechuanaland

The couple returned to Bechuanaland, a British protectorate, where Seretse's uncle
Tshekedi Khama Tshekedi Khama (17 September 1905 – 10 June 1959) was the regent-king of the Bamangwato tribe in 1926 after the death of Sekgoma II. Background Tshekedi Khama was born in Serowe, the son of Khama III, known as Khama the Great, by his fou ...
was regent. For the Bamangwato people, the wife of the king was regarded as the mother of the entire Bamangwato people, and for Prince Tshekedi it was simply inconceivable that a white woman could play this role. Prince Tshekedi lobbied the British Colonial Office to either force Seretse to renounce his wife or renounce his claim to the throne. In the 1948 South African elections, the Afrikaner nationalist National Party that had strong republican and anti-British tendencies was victorious, and the fear that Prime Minister Malan might declare South Africa a republic led successive British governments to seek to appease Malan, who made it very clear that he disapproved of the Khamas' marriage. Malan banned both Khamas from South Africa. A
Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
newspaper called Ruth "a foolish ignorant girl." The presence of the "White Queen" as South African newspapers called Ruth was seen as a threat to ''apartheid'' and several South African newspapers advocated invading Bechuanaland if the "White Queen" was permitted to stay. Ruth's arrival in Bechuanaland in August 1949 coincided with the best rainy season in decades, which was taken as a good omen by the Bamangwato, who dubbed her the "Rain Queen". Ruth took part in a Bamangwato ceremony where a large group of women circled around her, singing songs while carrying buckets of water or corn before kneeling down to offer her the water and corn while proclaiming "You are the mother of us all!" Due to the adverse publicity, Ruth Khama disliked speaking to journalists, whom she shunned. Many of the newspaper stories portrayed her and her husband in an unflattering light, which greatly hurt her; a particular bugbear of hers was to pick out the inaccuracies in newspaper stories such as the claim that her husband's grades at the Inner Temple declined after he started dating her. In addition, she was upset about stories in the British and American press written by journalists who had never been to Bechuanaland that portrayed it as either a wet place covered by jungles as typical of central Africa or as a savanna typical of East Africa (Bechuanaland had a hot, dry climate and much of the protectorate was covered by the
Kalahari Desert The Kalahari Desert is a large semiarid climate, semiarid sandy savanna in Southern Africa covering including much of Botswana as well as parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African ...
). One of the few journalists whom she did speak to was the American journalist
Margaret Bourke-White Margaret Bourke-White (; June 14, 1904 – August 27, 1971) was an American documentary photography, documentary photographer and photojournalist. She was known as an architectural and commercial photographer for the first half of her career, ...
, who was able to gain her trust and did a photo-essay on her for ''Life''. Bourke-White became a close friend of hers and did much to keep up her spirits. Knowing that Ruth Khama was a great ailurophile, Bourke-White gave her the gift of two kittens, whom Seretse named Pride and Prejudice after his wife's favourite novel.


Exile in London

After receiving popular support in Bechuanaland, Seretse was called to London in March 1950 for discussions with British officials. Ruth advised her husband not to go to London, later saying: "I had a premonition they were going to keep him there". At the time, she was pregnant, and in case her child was a boy, she wanted to give birth in Bechuanaland as under Bamangwato custom a future king must be born on their soil. As she suspected, it was a trick. He was prevented from returning home and told he had to remain in exile. The British government, which wished to stay in the good graces of the South African government, offered Seretse £1,000 if he would agree to renounce his claim to the throne; when he refused, he was told he was banished from Bechuanaland for the next five years. In a telegram to his wife, he wrote: "Tribe and myself tricked by British government. Am banned from whole protectorate. Love Seretse". As Ruth did not speak Setswana and most of the whites of Bechuanaland shunned her, after she was separated from her husband, she was very lonely with her principal companions being her two cats and her infant daughter. The outbreak of the Korean War on 25 June 1950 increased the importance of South African uranium as it was a major fear of the Attlee government that the United States would become more interested in Asia at the expense of Europe, which it was felt would weaken the American "nuclear umbrella". The Attlee government believed that there was a serious possibility that Joseph Stalin had ordered the North Korean invasion of South Korea with the aim of embroiling the United States in Asia in order to launch a Soviet invasion of Western Europe. As such, it was felt to be of paramount importance that Britain have its own nuclear weapons as soon as possible, which in turn increased the importance of South African uranium. Under British law, interracial marriages were legal, and the attempt to (in effect) apply the South African law against interracial marriage to a British protectorate by exiling the Khamas was seen as highly controversial; it was clear, at the time, that it was South African pressure that was decisive. In South Africa, the Afrikaner nationalist newspaper '' Die Transvaaler'' stated in an editorial, "While trying to prop up with words the whitewashed façade of liberalism, the British government has in practice had to concede to the demands of ''apartheid''". In a leader (editorial), ''The Times'' stated, "They will not easily persuade public opinion, which has righteously been aroused, that the divergence in racial attitude between the Union f South Africaand the British territories can best be met by appeasement at cost of personal injustice. They will have a heavy task to prove that Seretse's exclusion will not do much more damage than his recognition". British public opinion was very much on the side of the Khamas and against the government. During this time, a reconciliation with Ruth’s father took place, as he accepted her decision to marry a black man. Ruth joined Seretse in England, with the married couple living as exiles from 1951 in
Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...
.
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
, as the leader of the Official Opposition, had criticised the ban on Seretse Khama placed by the Attlee government, calling it "a very disreputable transaction". However, when he won the 1951 election, Churchill would decide to have the ban be permanently enforced, claiming that Seretse's return would be a danger to public order. Despite his claims, riots broke out in Bechuanaland when it was learned that the Khamas would not be permitted to return. In a vote in the House of Commons in 1951, 308 MPs voted to keep the Khamas exiled while 286 MPs voted to allow them to return. Notably, Prime Minister Churchill (who championed Khamas’ cause as the leader of the opposition) said nothing during the vote. During his exile, Prince Seretse suffered from bouts of depression and, in 1952, Ruth told Porter that "Sometimes he just sits in front of the fire warming his hands and brooding. He suffers from lumbago because of the climate. Much as I love him—more than the day we were married—I cannot move him when he gets into one of his black moods. There is absolutely nothing that will snap him out of it."


Return to Bechuanaland

Popular support and protest continued in Bechuanaland. The couple were permitted to return in 1956 after the Bamangwato people sent a telegram to
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
. Seretse renounced his throne and became a cattle farmer in
Serowe Serowe (population approximately 60,000) is an urban village in Botswana's Botswana Central District, Central District. A trade and commercial centre, it is Botswana's third largest village. Serowe has played an important role in Botswana's histor ...
. Seretse founded the nationalist
Bechuanaland Democratic Party The Botswana Democratic Party (abbr. BDP, colloquially known as Domkrag) is a centre-right political party in Botswana. From the country's inaugural election in 1965 until the 2024 general election the party governed the country without interrup ...
and won the 1965 general election. As prime minister of Bechuanaland, he pushed for independence, which was granted in 1966. Seretse Khama became the first
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
of independent Botswana and he became a
Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
. Lady Khama was an influential, politically active First Lady during her husband's four consecutive terms as president from 1966 to 1980.


Family

Lady Khama and her husband had four children. Their first child Jacqueline was born in Bechuanaland in 1951, shortly after Seretse was exiled. Their first son Ian was born in England in 1953, and twins Anthony and Tshekedi were born in Bechuanaland in 1958 (Anthony was named after
Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabine ...
, then known as Anthony Wedgwood Benn, who supported their return from exile in the early 1950s). She remained in Botswana after her husband's death in office in 1980, receiving recognition as "''Mohumagadi Mma Kgosi''" (mother of the king, or
queen mother A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the monarch, reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also ...
). Despite the national controversy surrounding their union in the 1940s and 1950s, the couple were inseparable until his death from cancer in 1980. After her husband's death, she lived on a large farm in Botswana, dedicating her time and efforts to charitable causes and spending time with her children and grandchildren. Two of their sons, Ian and Tshekedi, have become prominent politicians in Botswana.
Ian Khama Seretse Khama Ian Khama() (born 27 February 1953) is a Motswana politician and former military officer who was the fourth President of the Republic of Botswana from 1 April 2008 to 1 April 2018. After serving as Commander of the Botswana Defenc ...
was elected as the President of Botswana in 2008.


Death

Lady Khama died of throat cancer in
Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Botswana, largest city of Botswana, with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its metropolitan area is home to 534, ...
in 2002 at the age of 78, survived by her four children. She was buried in
Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...
next to her husband.


In popular culture

A film, ''A Marriage of Inconvenience'', based on the Michael Dutfield book with same name, was made in 1990 about the Khamas. In 2006, a book was published entitled ''Colour Bar: The Triumph of Seretse Khama and His Nation'', written by historian Susan Williams, about the Khamas' relationship and struggles. Another film, ''
A United Kingdom ''A United Kingdom'' is a 2016 biographical romantic drama film directed by Amma Asante and written by Guy Hibbert, based on the true-life romance of Seretse Khama, heir to the throne of the Bangwato Tribe in Serowe – one of many tribes fo ...
'', based on the Williams book and directed by
Amma Asante Amma Asante (born 13 September 1969) is a British filmmaker, screenwriter, former actress, and Chancellor at Norwich University of the Arts, who was born in London to parents from Ghana. Her love for the film industry started when she receive ...
, was made in 2016. In ''A United Kingdom'', Lady Khama is portrayed by
Rosamund Pike Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike (born 1979) is an English actress and producer. Known for psychological thrillers and dramas, she is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Rosamund Pike, numerous accolades, including a Primetime Em ...
. In addition to this, it has been suggested that the experiences of the Khamas, as well as the somewhat contemporary case of 1950s debutante
Peggy Cripps Enid Margaret "Peggy" Appiah (''née'' Cripps), MBE ( ; 21 May 1921 – 11 February 2006), was a British children's author, philanthropist and socialite. The youngest daughter of the Rt Hon. Sir Stafford and Dame Isobel Cripps, she was th ...
' marriage to the African anti-colonialist Nana Joe Appiah, influenced the writing of the
Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...
-winning feature film, ''
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner ''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'' is a 1967 American romantic comedy drama film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer, and written by William Rose. It stars Spencer Tracy (in his final role), Sidney Poitier, and Katharine Hepburn, and feat ...
'' (1967).


Books and articles

* *


References


External links

* Williams, Susan. 2006. ''Colour Bar''. Allen Lane. * Dutfield, Michael. 1990. ''A Marriage of Inconvenience, The Persecution of Ruth and Seretse Khama''. Routledge. * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Khama, Ruth Williams 1923 births 2002 deaths First ladies of Botswana Botswana people of English descent Botswana Democratic Party politicians Women's Auxiliary Air Force airwomen People from Blackheath, London Deaths from esophageal cancer Deaths from cancer in Botswana Wives of knights White Botswana people British emigrants to Botswana