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As King Charles makes his first official visit to a Commonwealth country, the royal family's previous visits to Kenya will be in the spotlight.
His mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, was on a similar tour of Kenya when her father died catapulting her to the British throne. Treetops, the famous lodge where Charles' parents spent the night is no longer in operation but the memories remain.
The King's parents' visit in February 1952 was part of their tour that was to take them to several Commonwealth countries since her father, King George VI was too ill to make the trip.
The couple first put up at the Royal Lodge, now Sagana State Lodge on the slopes of Mount Kenya. They were scheduled to visit the Treetops on one of the nights. The lodge was popular due to its splendid game-viewing experience. It had a platform woven around a fig tree.
The platform was the work of David Sherbroke-Walker and his wife, Bettie, the couple behind yet another iconic hotel, Outspan, whose fortunes, just like those of Treetops, have been dwindling.
The visit made everything around the hotel become an instant hit.
"The Mugumo tree, a wild fig, became famous. The modest safari lodge built in its branches was transformed instantaneously into the most famous hotel in the world. Even a wretched waterbuck, which was killed by another in a fight witnessed by the royal party, was whisked off to a taxidermist and its head is still to be seen, stuffed, bemused and mounted, in the nearby Outspan Hotel," wrote The Telegraph.
Among the last engagements in Kenya before the young couple flew out back to England was a church service in Naromoru.
David Kariuki wa Gachagua was 24 when the visitors came calling in his church on February 5, 1952. "I had never met the couple before but I knew some of the men who accompanied them because most were settlers around Nyeri and Laikipia," Kariuki, 95, said in a recent interview with this writer.
Mzee Kariuki recalls that with the young lady's new powers, she gave permission for the royal court of arms to be affixed within the church and later the following year, donated the carpet that was used at her coronation to the church.
But even before she could learn of the death of her father, King Charles' mother, then known as Elizabeth Alexander Mary had yet another scare, this time from an enraged bull elephant.
To save the future Queen, a plan was devised by Mervyn Cowie, the late wildlife enthusiast and first director of Nairobi National Park. His plan was simple but practical, as The Independent once wrote:
"Ever resourceful, Cowie, who could charm birds from the trees, found the solution. Approaching the bull carefully, keeping out of sight and downwind, he selected a large pebble, rubbed it vigorously under his armpit and then hurled it past the animal and upwind of it. Hearing the thud as the stone dropped, the elephant turned in that direction, picked up Cowie's aroma and immediately charged, happily in the desired direction."
That was not the only danger that threatened to mar the royal tour. The area around both Mount Kenya and the Aberdares was in the grip of the Mau Mau struggle.
The fighters used the dense forests as hideouts from where they could stage surprise attacks on British soldiers. Treetops was razed to the ground by the Mau Mau two years after her visit, around 1954.
Who knows how the freedom fighters would have changed the course of history had they laid their hands on the young woman destined to become Queen of The United Kingdom and Northern Ireland after the fall of colonialism, the head of the Commonwealth!
Like most of us, King Charles can only learn about the events around his mother's visit to Kenya from history. He was only three when his mother ascended to the throne.
Fast forward and central Kenya still remains a favourite holiday hotspot for members of the royal family. Prince William, King Charles' first born son proposed to his then-fiancee Kate Middleton while staying at a holiday house within the sprawling Lewa Conservancy.
As the King makes his first tour to Kenya as a monarch, memories of his parent's exploits within central Kenya will likely emerge. It is time for him to write his Kenyan memoirs.
