In September 1948, a young African law student and a white English office clerk married at a registry office in London. Within two years, the British government had banished the groom from his homeland.
Seretse Khama was the heir to the chieftaincy of the Bamangwato, the largest group in the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana. He was studying law in London when he met Ruth Williams, who worked as a clerk at Lloyd’s of London. They met at a dance and fell in love.
Opposition from all sides
The couple faced opposition almost everywhere. Seretse’s uncle, Tshekedi Khama, who ruled as regent, was furious that the heir had married without consulting the tribe. Ruth’s father disapproved. The Church of England bishop refused to marry them in church, which is why they married at a registry office.
The strongest pressure came from South Africa, where the new apartheid government had just banned interracial marriage. South Africa did not want a mixed-race couple ruling a neighbouring territory, and it pressed Britain to act.
Exile
After an inquiry, Clement Attlee’s Labour government in 1950 barred Seretse from Bechuanaland. The couple lived in exile in England for six years. Ruth had joined him in Serowe, the Bamangwato capital, before the ban and gave birth to their first child, Jacqueline, there. The Bamangwato people, who had come to accept Ruth, protested the decision, and letters of support reached the couple from across Africa and Britain.
Return
In 1956, Seretse renounced his claim to the chieftaincy and was allowed to return home with Ruth as a private citizen. He entered politics, founded the Bechuanaland Democratic Party and led the country to independence in 1966. He became the first president of Botswana, and Ruth became Lady Khama.
A strong marriage
The couple had four children. Their eldest son, Ian Khama, later became president of Botswana himself, from 2008 to 2018. Seretse died in 1980. Ruth stayed in Botswana, where she was known as Mohumagadi Mma Kgosi, the queen mother, and died in 2002.
On screen
Their story was told in the 2016 film A United Kingdom, directed by Amma Asante, with David Oyelowo as Seretse and Rosamund Pike as Ruth.
They married against the wishes of two families, two governments and an empire. They stayed married for more than thirty years, until death parted them.
