Osei Tutu Agyeman Prempeh II

Prempeh II (Otumfuo Sir Osei Tutu Agyeman Prempeh II, KBE, c. 1892 – 27 May 1970), was the 14th Asantehene, or king of the Ashanti (Ruler of the Asante), reigning from 22 June 1931 to 27 May 1970.

The Asantehene Otumfuo Sir Osei Agyeman Prempeh II. KBE

Asantehene of Asanteman; Kumasehene of Kumasi

Prempeh II in 1935

King of the Asante Kingdom

Reign

22 June 1931 – 27 May 1970

Coronation

22 June 1931

Predecessor

Prempeh I

Successor

Opoku Ware II

Born

c. 1892
Kumasi, Kingdom of Ashanti, Gold Coast

Died

27 May 1970 (aged 77–78)
Kumasi, Ghana

Issue

Henry K. Prempeh; Lovelace Prempeh

Names
The Asantehene Otumfuo Sir Osei Agyeman Prempeh II, KBE

House

Oyoko Dynasty^{[not verified in body]}

Religion

Anglican

Biography

Asantehene Prempeh II of the Ashanti was born in 1892 in the capital city called Kumasi. He was four years old when his uncle, Prempeh I (the 13th Asantehene), his maternal grandmother, Queen Nana Yaa Akyaa, and other family members were captured and exiled to the Seychelles Islands by the British in 1896. Prempeh I returned from exile in 1924 and died in May 1931, and Otumfuo Prempeh II was subsequently elected as his successor; however, he was elected as merely Kumasihene rather than Asantehene. In 1935, after strenuous efforts on his part, the colonial authorities allowed Prempeh II to assume the title of Asantehene.

In 1949, Prempeh II was instrumental in founding Prempeh College, a prestigious all-boys boarding school in Kumasi, Ashanti. He also gave a large tract of land for the construction of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), which in 1969 awarded him an honorary degree of Doctor of Science. In October 1969, he was elected as the first President of the National House of Chiefs, and shortly thereafter was appointed to the Council of State.

Biography

See also