King Prempeh comes home to Kumasi after 28 years
Prempeh was the king of the Asante people. On 11 November 1924, he arrived by ship at Takoradi, on the coast of the Gold Coast. The British took him away from his country in 1896, and he was away for 28 years.
He did not rest. He took a special night train to Kumasi, the Asante capital. The train stopped at Sekondi, and thousands of people welcomed him there.
Prempeh was now an old man. He wore a European suit and hat. About 50 Asante people came home with him. Most of them were born in the Seychelles. These are islands in the Indian Ocean. Prempeh lived there for most of his years away.
Prempeh became king in 1888. At that time, Britain wanted his land, but he said no. The British asked for a lot of gold. He did not pay. The king told his people not to fight. Nobody fired a shot, but the British arrested him.
On 20 January 1896, the British took Prempeh away from Kumasi. About 50 family members, chiefs and servants went with him as prisoners. The British took things from his palace. The prisoners went first to Elmina, a fort on the coast, and then to Sierra Leone. In 1900 they went to the Seychelles.
In 1924 the British finally let him go home. They were afraid of trouble, so the train did not go into the Kumasi station. It stopped at Kaase, near the city. Thousands of people in Kumasi did not see him, and they were sad. But they were happy because their king was home.
The British did not let him be king of all the Asante again. He was only chief of Kumasi. The British built a new palace for him, and the Asante paid for it. Later he asked the British to give back the Asante gold things. He died on 12 May 1931.
One hundred years after he came home, there was a big party outside the royal palace in Kumasi. The king today, Osei Tutu II, thanked the Seychelles.
Prempeh’s house is now a museum, the Manhyia Palace Museum. On 1 May 2024, it opened a show of old Asante things from the British Museum and other museums. Osei Tutu II stood in the rooms where Prempeh lived. He said these gold things are the soul of the Asante people.