Ruth Williams Khama, Lady Khama (née Williams; 9 December 1923 – 22 May 2002) was the wife of Botswana's first president Sir Seretse Khama, the Paramount Chief of its Bamangwato tribe. She served as the inaugural First Lady of Botswana from 1966 to 1980.

Early life

Khama was born in Meadowcourt Road, Blackheath in South London, the daughter of George and Dorothy Williams. Her father had served as a captain in the British Army in India, and later worked in the tea trade. She had a sister, Muriel (later Muriel Sanderson), with whom she remained close.

She was educated at Eltham Hill Grammar School and then served as a WAAF ambulance driver at various airfields in the south of England during the Second World War. After the war, she worked as a clerk for Cuthbert Heath, a firm of underwriters at Lloyd's of London.

Marriage

In June 1947, at a dance at Nutford House organised by the London Missionary Society, her sister introduced her to Prince Seretse Khama. He was the son of the Kgosi (a Bamangwato title equivalent to "king", though the British government prefers "paramount chief"), Sekgoma II, of the Bamangwato people and was studying law at Inner Temple in London after a year at Balliol College, Oxford. The couple were both fans of jazz music, particularly The Ink Spots, and quickly fell in love. Khama was the first black man she had ever spoken to. Their plans to marry caused controversy with elders in Bechuanaland and the government of South Africa, which had recently instituted the system of racial segregation known as apartheid.

Britain was developing an atomic bomb which was felt necessary to maintain Britain's claim to be a great power and it was felt crucial that the supplies of uranium come from within the Commonwealth; South Africa happened to be endowed with much uranium which could be mined cheaply via open pit mining out on the veld by black South African miners who were paid wages considerably lower than the white miners. Uranium could also be obtained elsewhere in the Commonwealth such as from Canada, but the Canadian uranium was mined via deep shaft mining in the far north by well paid miners, making the Canadian uranium far more expensive than the South African uranium. Thus for reasons of cost, the British government much preferred to buy South African uranium for its atomic bomb programme.

The South African government made it very clear that its willingness to supply uranium for the British nuclear programme was contingent upon stopping the marriage. The British government intervened to stop the marriage. Both Ruth and Seretse were Anglicans who wanted to be married within the Church of England, but neither could find a priest willing to marry them. The marriage attracted much media attention as the Canadian journalist Mackenzie Porter wrote in 1952: "The Press treated their marriage as front-page news. Here, flouting all the dangers he knew to be implicit in [inter-racial marriage], was the scion of the ancient and illustrious House of Khama ... And here, seeking to be an African queen, was an English working girl who had been reared to expect nothing more exotic than a semi-detached house in one of London's great dormitories and a husband who every morning would don his bowler hat, seize his umbrella and catch a red double-decker bus to the city."

During this time, a reconciliation with Ruth's father took place, as he accepted her decision to marry a black man. Ruth joined Seretse in England, with the married couple living as exiles from 1951 in Croydon.

After her husband's death, she lived on a large farm in Botswana, dedicating her time and efforts to charitable causes and spending time with her children and grandchildren.

Two of their sons, Ian and Tshekedi, have become prominent politicians in Botswana. Ian Khama was elected as the President of Botswana in 2008.

Death

Lady Khama died of throat cancer in Gaborone in 2002 at the age of 78, survived by her four children. She was buried in Botswana next to her husband.

A film, A Marriage of Inconvenience, based on the Michael Dutfield book with same name, was made in 1990 about the Khamas. In 2006, a book was published titled Colour Bar: The Triumph of Seretse Khama and His Nation, written by historian Susan Williams, about the Khamas' relationship and struggles. Another film, A United Kingdom, based on the Williams book and directed by Amma Asante, was made in 2016. In A United Kingdom, Lady Khama is portrayed by Rosamund Pike.

Notes

References

|-