On February 6, 1952, Princess Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip were on a visit to Kenya and stayed the night at a treetop lodge at the Aberdare National Park, Nyeri Kenya noted for watching wild animals on prowl overnight. King George VI had died at home and on waking up she had become the sovereign over the United Kingdom and her dependencies, including Kenya.
But as she ascended the throne the sun gradually started to set over the British Empire. The Indian subcontinent had attained independence as India and Pakistan with the latter including today’s Bangladesh in 1947. She was the monarch under whose leadership the parts of Africa that were colonised by the British attained independence, with the turn of Nigeria on October 1, 1960, with Sudan and Ghana preceding Nigeria.
As the sovereign, she visited her territory of Nigeria in February 1956 and requested an unscheduled trip to Ijebu-Ode to visit her late father’s friend, Chief Timothy Adeola Odutola at his palatial…
Source: Leadership Newspaper
