Persecuted and exiled by the British Crown, they managed to reign in Botswana until the end of their lives.
London, June 1947. Seretse Khama and Ruth Williams meet at an evangelical Missionary Society dance with full-blown swing and couples competing in contortions.
An abyss separates them. And although, as a Spanish song says, "the things of wanting have no end or beginning or what or how and why", that abyss (a priori) belies it. Because Seretse is black, and Ruth is white, in a country town where there are still places with the infamous "No Dogs, No Blacks, No Irish" legend. Because Seretse is an African prince, heir to the throne of Bechaunalanda (now Botswana, southern Africa), and Ruth is an ordinary British office worker. Because Seretse, a Law student at the University of Oxford, must return to his land and watch over it and his handful of souls: 582 thousand square kilometers –somewhat more than Spain–: too big and poor even for its less than 200 thousand inhabitants at the mercy of drought, malaria, and diphtheria, and Ruth has no plans to move: she has only broken up with a man "because we wanted very different things," she tells her best friend.
Balance: Seretse is an outsider, and Ruth is a Londoner through and through.
However, something unites them almost from the first day they met and danced, perhaps Easy Does It, by Count Basie, or Mack the Knife, sung by Ella Fitzgerald: jazz in all its forms. And when the frantic nights are over –one of the ways to forget the tragedy of war, the long night walks and the coincidence in certain ideals also make them inseparable.
A year later, Seretse proposes to her, and she quickly and blindly accepts. Against all odds, prejudices, and all odds, they know –and they are not wrong– that they were born for each other, and until death do them part. They get married in 1948. He is 27 years old; she is 25. But they ignore a grim political and social context that will strike them like lightning.
In addition to the White/Black barrier, through which Seretse had to endure insults in the street, with Ruth at his side (Monkey! Ape! Do you want bananas?), and resorting to his good boxer's fists to knock down the imbeciles, a complex plot began to suffocate them...
At that time, the Crown government governed the destiny of Bechaunaland, one of its protectorates, and its great ally, South Africa, had just decreed apartheid as a fundamental law that demanded the total geographical separation of whites and blacks (zones, neighborhoods, shops, theaters, public transport), prohibited interracial marriage, and would put serious objections to that union even in Bechaunaland, its northern border neighbor. Under normal conditions, the British government would not have cared. But, in the aftermath of the economic losses of the war, it was dependent on South Africa to buy gold and uranium at low prices. Conclusion: the couple seemed doomed to separation. But Seretse said emphatically, No! And already married, they embark on a journey to their country, where the throne awaits its new king.
The arrival opens another front of conflict. Seretse's uncle, Tshekedi, regent of the throne and ready to crown his niece king, is furious: "Our country will never accept a white queen. And our women, much less."
Meanwhile, the case becomes a great worldwide event, with voices for and against, and the power of the press, which promotes positions for and against.
Despite the fury of Seretse's uncle, the two have a summit meeting, and after many tense hours, while the town waits, they come to an agreement. Seretse will be king, she will fight against the Crown until she achieves independence and is a democratic republic and not a kingdom, and Ruth will make endless efforts to be accepted by women, who have received her with more hostility than amazement.
Among other things, in the meeting alone with his uncle, Seretse played a very strong card:
South Africa has dug its diamond deposits to exhaustion, and will soon start digging in our territory since the largest deposit occupies the two countries. Will we allow the apartheid country to carry our greatest wealth? We must declare independence to avoid it...
Slowly, the couple prevails. Ruth adapts to that desert land and approaches the women with humility, and Seretse faces the last step: the decision of the Kogtla, the Sacred Assembly of the tribe. That, against everything imaginable, he consecrates them, unanimously. He will be king, and she will be "the mother of the people", a title destined for the companion of all kings since the existence of the country.
The British press breaks out in big headlines: Ruth, the white queen of blacks, and so on.
But the Crown government, checked on the internal front by local racists, and on the external by South Africa, sets a trap for them. He invites them to London, with cynical courtesy, to revisit the case and adopt a new attitude towards them.
Seretese, with the two tickets in hand and the entourage of the Protectorate waiting for them to take the flight to London, knows that if they leave, they will not be allowed back. And he leaves them shaved and unvisited:
I'll go alone. Ruth and our women get along very well, and together they are fighting a diphtheria epidemic.
Confused, the commissioner and his entourage have no choice but to swallow the toad.
Already in London, a senior official, a well-dressed exegesis of cynicism and lies, informs Seretse that, "unfortunately", his ability to reign in the Protectorate has been evaluated by a commission, and that his report, named Harrigan, it is negative.
He is not considered capable of reigning. Our government imposes a five-year exile on him. Let's call it a period of reflection... As compensation, we've got him a job in Jamaica. Of course, his wife must return to London.
But she crashes into Seretse's mettle:
I'm not going to Jamaica. My wife will not return. And I will return to my land. I will never be separated from my wife. Her that she has just given birth to our first child: a girl to be called Jaqueleine.
But the scandal has grown at hurricane speed, and some British press has taken sides with the couple and their rights. In addition, Winston Churchill, candidate for the Conservative Party against Labor, on the eve of elections, echoes the local and international protests and declares:
Although I am against this link between people of different races, I understand that this couple is suffering a very painful situation, and I promise that if I win I will grant them forgiveness. There will be no exile.
Another masterpiece of cynicism. He wins the elections, takes a sharp turn of the helm, and decrees... exile for life!
It is 1951. Seretse stays in London. Ruth returns. They move heaven and earth. They fight with all their might. Ruth records a filmed message that is shown in cinemas around the world, speaking to Churchill's face to face and asking for mercy. Seretse speaks before high forums. A Seretse Kahma Defense entity is created. In each speech, the king who did not get to assume uses a phrase as a whip:
The Crown government lies
And he is right. Because a journalist allied to the cause has gotten hold of a copy of the Harrigan Report discrediting Seretse, he puts it in his hands, and the truth goes off like a grenade.
He says thus: "Despite his unfortunate marriage, his prospects as his chief are as bright as those of any native of Africa with whom we have had contact."
A slap that shakes Parliament and almost stops the march of Big Ben.
Collapsed all subterfuges against the couple, the road to Bechaunaland is open. However, the bureaucratic machinery and other miserable rinsings did not allow them to return to that desolate land... which paradoxically hid some of the largest diamonds on the planet, until 1956.
But it was enough. Seretse ascended the throne, but he fulfilled the plan he confessed to his uncle at that summit meeting: he resigned, founded the Bechauna Nationalist Party in 1961, became Prime Minister of the Protectorate, launched his campaign for independence from the Crown, achieved it in 1966, and changed the name of the country, which was renamed Botswana.
Of course, he was the first president of his nation
What goes from yesterday to today: the black insulted in the streets of London, the black cheated by the Crown, the black betrayed by Churchill, the black exiled for life... he was made a Commander of the Cavalry of the highest Order of the Empire, For Queen Elizabeth II!
An independent and democratic nation, he established inalienable rights over the diamond deposits: the basis of future prosperity. It grew to have almost three million souls today. His battle against the laws of the desert continues with the lack of water and diseases.
The second president was Ian Kahma, the second son of Seretse and Ruth.
She tirelessly dedicated herself to fighting AIDS, one of the country's scourges. And until the end, she led all kinds of solidarity works. No white woman in a strange land was so loved by the native women...
Seretse died in 1980, just 59 years old. Ruth survived him until 2002, at the age of 79.
