Gakondo Royal Images
1 2 GAKONDO Images of Royal Rwanda from the Colonial Period STEWART ADDINGTON SAINT-DAVID © 2017 Editions Elgiad/The King Kigeli Foundation. All rights reserved. 3 IN MEMORIAM Quisquis enim hic felicem agit vitam, sicut nobilissimus meus pater fecit, habet certissimum iter in coelum. 4 Colonia Roma MEXICO, D.F. 20 December, 2017 As the various Members of the Household of His Late Majesty King Kigeli continue to mourn His passing more than one year ago, I am honored to be able to offer this further testimony of my abiding respect and deep admiration for the splendid historical culture of the Rwandan monarchy, and for the ongoing and ceaseless efforts of the present Head of the Royal House, H. M. King Yuhi VI Bushayija, to preserve and defend this vital national treasure. Tragically, the pages of Rwanda’s history have in recent decades been stained by the tears and bloodshed of internecine conflict, and as the country has slowly arisen from these heartbreaking struggles, and has endured the long path of halting recovery and partial renewal, one terrible gap, one salient and painful lacuna, has risen to the fore in the minds of Rwandans of every walk of life: the lack of its ancient and hallowed monarchy. In 1961, after almost nine centuries of strong and thoughtful rule, the nation’s traditional monarchy, with Umwami, The King, at its organizational apex, was hastily abolished by a few cynical political manipulators, who acted with the collusion of foreign powers to shatter with one blow the social, political, and inspirational keystone of the nation’s civil, military, and spiritual systems.
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