The consort who almost sparked a diplomatic row

Cecilia Kadzamira getting out of a hut during a previous visit to Kenya. [File, Standard]

What a time for a dignitary to find themselves heading to a country that in hours would be caught up in an attempted coup.

This was the predicament that faced Cecilia Kadzamira, described as the most powerful woman in Malawi and an insider in the government of Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda.

Moments before she landed at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta...