@MichelleObama@BarackObama@ObamaFoundation The mint tradition continues !
🍬 Geniune moments like these show that true friendship transcends politics. Thank you for sharing this joy with us,
Michelle!
1964.
16th Street NW
Washington, D.C.
Uganda's new embassy opened its doors.
President Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson arrived to mark the occasion.
But it was Princess Margaret Semugeshi who stole the afternoon, dressed in the flowing mushanana of a Rwandan kingdom that no longer existed.
She wore it not as costume, but as a flag.
The embassy at 5911 16th Street NW was a statement of arrival.
Uganda, just two years independent, had found a permanent home for its young diplomatic mission.
Prince Stephen Edgar Paul Karamagi, the Second Secretary and Chargé d'Affaires, welcomed American dignitaries, journalists, and diplomats into the freshly polished halls.
But the highlight of the afternoon came when President Lyndon B. Johnson and First Lady Lady Bird Johnson stepped through the doors in person, a gesture of genuine interest from the White House toward a small East African nation still learning to walk on the global stage.
The photographers positioned themselves.
The President and First Lady moved through the room with practised ease.
And then, standing to the far left of a formal group, the First Lady's attention caught.
Princess Margaret Semugeshi, wife of the Chargé d'Affaires, was dressed in a mushanana, the traditional royal attire of Rwanda, its graceful folds cascading like water.
The fabric shimmered softly in the spring light.
Lady Bird leaned in, visibly taken, asking about the dress, the story behind it, the country it came from.
The Princess answered with a gentle Rwandan lilt, her smile warm but her eyes carrying the weight of memory.
The mushanana was not simply a fashion choice.
Four years earlier, Rwanda's monarchy had been abolished.
Her father, Chief Semugeshi of Bufundu, had been displaced, and the kingdom her family had served for generations had been swept away by revolution.
Yet here, on the marble steps of Uganda's embassy, she wore the dress of her ancestors not as mourning but as declaration.
Every fold was a refusal to let heritage be erased by political upheaval.
She was not a petitioner seeking recognition; she was a princess, and she wore her crown, not on her head, but in the cultural armour of that mushanana.
President Johnson, in his familiar Texan warmth, joined the conversation.
He asked about Uganda, about her life in Washington, about the dress.
The Princess held her ground with effortless grace.
Behind her, Prince Karamagi watched the exchange with quiet pride, a husband, a diplomat, a man who understood that his wife was doing something no speech could accomplish.
The photograph taken that afternoon captured the moment precisely: the President and First Lady turned toward the Princess, their attention entirely hers, while the Chargé d'Affaires looked on, a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth.
The embassy was now officially open.
But what that image immortalised was not the building, nor the politics, nor the bilateral relations.
It was the convergence of two African stories, one Ugandan, forward-looking and ambitious; the other Rwandan, displaced but defiant.
Princess Margaret Semugeshi, standing on American soil, wearing the flag of a kingdom that no longer existed, had done something remarkable.
She had reminded everyone in the room that royalty is not a matter of thrones, but of presence.
And for a few hours on a spring afternoon in 1964, the mushanana had spoken more eloquently than any ambassador's address.
What does it mean to wear a lost kingdom on your shoulders, and still stand taller than anyone in the room?
#ughistory #Bufundu #Rwanda #Uganda @ObukamaBwaTooro@UgaEmbaWashDC@UgandaMFA@RwandaMFA
The best way to gauge others’ values isn’t to ask them directly. It’s to see who they respect.
Shallow people are impressed by superficiality. They look up to beauty, fame, money & power.
Deep people are drawn to substance. They admire wisdom, kindness, creativity & integrity.
@Odrek_Rwabwogo Prince Stephen Edgar Paul Karamagi was instrumental in opening up the Ugandan Embassy in Washington DC in 1964. His sister, Princess Elizabeth Bagaaya, later served as Amb. Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in 1986. Both worked with @UgandaMFA. #notfiction@Boyiiii@StateDept
@bbossa@kaija_david This is not a flex. How can you - in good conscience - promote counterfeit products under the #BUBU brand? We’ve really gone off the rails! 🤦🏽♀️
Your work does not define your worth.
A career is what you do—it doesn’t have to reflect who you are. Making a job part of your identity is an option, not an obligation.
Your impact in the world doesn’t depend on how you make a living. It derives from how you live your values.