A goalkeeper for a non-league London football team has been selected as the new ruler of a Ugandan Kingdom.
George Desmond Kamurasi, who captains the SE Dons in Bexleyheath, south-east London, has unexpectedly been chosen as the next king of Tooro.
The 36-year-old was selected by a 21-member committee as the subnation’s leader after the death of the previous King who was Mr Kamurasi’s cousin.
King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV passed away in the US on August 27 while receiving specialist treatment for cancer.
He became the youngest reigning monarch when he took the throne of the Ugandan Kingdom – with a population of 800,000 – aged three in 1995.
Following the king’s death, Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni and the nation’s Chief of Defence Forces General Muhoozi Kainerugaba reportedly endorsed the selection by the kingdom’s Royal Succession Committee.
But Mr Kamurasi is unsure as to whether he is the safe pair of hands needed for the role as King.
It is understood that the British national, who lives with his wife and son, is reluctant to leave the UK and take the Tooro throne.
The 36-year-old SE Dons captain was chosen to lead the Tooro Kingdom by a 21-member committee
The selection has also received a mixed reception in Uganda with some excited for Mr Kamurasi to bring his feisty leadership to the role, while others doubt whether a Briton should lead the kingdom.
Despite this, a formal declaration of the new king is expected to take place as early as next week.
Mr Nyimba’s body arrived back in Uganda at Entebbe International Airport on Friday ahead of the burial on September 12.
President Museveni, who backed the Briton’s selection as king, was one of a small crowd of delegates waiting to receive the casket.
He then draped the coffin in both the Ugandan and Tooro Kingdom flags, laid a wreath on it and bowed, before it was taken by military helicopter to the kingdom before the official ceremonies.
However, the newly selected king could miss the funeral in place of a football fixture held on the same day.
SE Dons are a London football club that plays in the ninth division of English football.
