The remains of Tooro’s King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV arrived at Entebbe International Airport on Friday, beginning the late monarch’s final journey home.
The casket touched down at about 12:08 p.m. aboard chartered aircraft 5Y-FAM, after the remains were transferred through Nairobi from the United States.
President Yoweri Museveni received the remains at the airport and paid his final respects before the casket was taken to a waiting helicopter.
The body is being flown to Kyegegwa, where it will be transferred to a vehicle for a road procession to Karuziika Palace in Fort Portal. The procession will pass through parts of Kyegegwa, Kyenjojo and Kabarole, allowing mourners along the route to bid farewell to the King.
The arrival of the body at Karuziika Palace will mark the start of nine days of official mourning in Tooro.
King Oyo, who became monarch in 1995 at the age of three, died in the United States on August 27 aged 34. He is scheduled to be buried at the Karambi Royal Tombs on September 12, the ninth and final day of mourning.
