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The story of a goalkeeper plucked from obscurity to rule a kingdom sounds like something out of a Hollywood movie. But that is exactly what is happening to George Desmond Kamurasi, a 36-year-old playing in a lower tier of England’s soccer league system. He has been selected to become the next king of the Tooro Kingdom, a traditional constitutional monarchy in western Uganda. Uganda, as a nation, is governed by an elected president and parliament, but its several traditional kingdoms retain significant cultural influence despite having no political power.
Kamurasi is a goalkeeper and team captain of the SE Dons, an English football club based in southeast London. Founded in 2014, the team currently sits eight levels below the Premier League. However, it has since built a significant social media following, described in BBC Sport video as “the greatest Sunday league football side in the world.” Standing 6 feet 6 inches tall, Kamurasi is “known for delivering passionate, often expletive-laden, speeches to his teammates before matches,” according to ESPN. He also worked as a soccer coach at a primary school in the Abbey Wood neighborhood of London.
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Kamurasi worked at this primary school in the Abbey Wood neighborhood of London as a soccer coach.
His selection follows the death of his cousin, King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, who died in the United States on August 27 at age 34 while receiving treatment for an aggressive form of cancer. King Oyo had made history in 1995 when he ascended to the Tooro throne at the age of three, becoming what Guinness World Records listed as the world’s youngest reigning monarch. He ruled over more than 2 million people, and per the BBC, was remembered by Uganda’s parliament as a “modernizing monarch who championed education, health and opportunities for young people.”
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The coffin of the late King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV at Entebbe International Airport in Uganda on September 4.
The Tooro Kingdom’s 21-member Royal Succession Committee voted for Kamurasi as the next omukama, or king, with 15 of the 18 members present voting in his favor. Kamurasi has not yet commented publicly on his selection, but Ugandan news outlets are reporting that he has reservations about accepting the role given lives in Britain with his wife and son and is reluctant to uproot his family.
Rachel King (she/her) is a news writer at Town & Country. Before joining T&C, she spent nearly a decade as an editor at Fortune. Her work covering travel and lifestyle has appeared in Forbes, Observer, Robb Report, Cruise Critic, and Cool Hunting, among others. Originally from San Francisco, she lives in New York with her wife, their daughter, and a precocious labradoodle. Follow her on Instagram at @rk.passport.