Historical records matching Lady Ruth Khama
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About Lady Ruth Khama
WIKI Ruth Williams Khama, Lady Khama
(9 December 1923 – 22 May 2002 (buried in Botswana)) 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.
Born in Blackheath, South London, she was the daughter of a former Indian Army captain, then working in the tea trade. During the Second World War, she left Eltham high school to join the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, serving as an ambulance driver and working at an emergency landing station at Beachy Head. When the war ended, she became a confidential clerk with a Lloyds underwriter. Her recreations were ice-skating, dancing and jazz.
Seretse, after a year at Balliol College, Oxford, was studying law at the Temple, and living in a hostel near Marble Arch. He met Ruth at a London Missionary Society dance. After a year's courting, they decided to marry
Lady Khama was an influential, politically active first lady during her husband's tenure as president, 1966–1980. Her sons Ian and Tshekedi became prominent politicians in Botswana. Ian Khama became the President of Botswana in 2008.
A film, A Marriage of Inconvenience, based on the Michael Dutfield book with same name, was made in 1990 about the Khamas. A book, Colour Bar, has been published about the Khamas' relationship and struggles.
Ruth Williams Khama died of throat cancer at the age of 79.
References/Sources/Further Reading
- A marriage of inconvenience
- Telegraph Obituary
- Guardian Obituary
- Mail online - many images
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Williams_Khama;
- Sunday Standard
- Wylie, Diana. ‘A Little God. The Twilight of Patriarchy in a Southern African Chiefdom.’ Johannesburg: Wits University Press. 1991. Print. Contact Sharon Doubell
- The story of Seretse's mother by GASEBALWE SERETSE
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Williams_Khama
- http://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/may/29/guardianobituaries
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Lady Ruth Khama's Timeline
| 1923 |
May 9, 1923
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Blackheath, Lewisham RD, South London, Middlesex, England UK
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| 1950 |
1950
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| 1953 |
February 27, 1953
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Chertsey, United Kingdom
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| 2002 |
May 22, 2002
Age 79
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