When Mzee Gathua Kimani, 85, heard the news about King Charles III and Queen Camilla's visit to Kenya, he immediately went Nyeri town to plead with government officials to organise a meeting with the Royal Family. He had two reasons.
Mr Gathua, a seasoned colonial-era driver, was among the luckiest Kenyans to have interacted with three members of the Royal Family — Queen Elizabeth, King Charles, and his sister Anne, the seventh Princess Royal.
Mr Gathua interacted with the King and the Queen at least two times when he was a senior driver and transport manager at the Treetops Hotel in Nyeri.
Apart from his sharp memory, Mr Gathua’s house is an archive of Kenyan history, with professional awards, photos and certificates, and religious messages covering the walls of the livingroom.
Photo credit: Nation Media Group
His mastery of almost all Kenyan languages is legendary, with gifts from various tribes dotting the house, and those that he was given by the senior colonial government as appreciation for his service as a driver adorning the walls while others are safely under lock and key.
Also in his possession are personal, colonial, and Kenyan history documents, a neatly kept diary given to him as a gift by the VIPs he served.
As the senior driver, he was in charge of driving local and international VIPs visiting the hotel or arranging their transport and tour routes during their stay.
“I never got the opportunity to drive the King and the Queen, but I was always in their entourage. I was assigned to either carry or accompany VIP persons due to my ability to communicate in English. In their visits, the Queen and the King were driven in government vehicles and security but were privy to the visits, and involved in planning the entourage. In my limited interactions with the King, I learned he was a humble man with a good heart, I wanted to see if he would remember me and also submit a letter to him about the historical injustice committed by the colonial chief to my family using the Queen's Crown,” said Mr Gathua.
He joined Treetops Hotel in 1962 and was present when Prince Charles visited the country in 1971 and in 1978. He was also at the facility in charge of the drivers in 1971 and in 1987.
Prince Charles greets a traditional dancer in Gatundu as Mama Ngina Kenyatta looks on.
Photo credit: Nation Media Group
“He was driven by officers from Kenya Wildlife Services while we offered other VIP tour-related services. At the hotels, he and the Queen during their visits were never given special treatment. There was a tradition that guests only left Ark Hotel for Treetops Hotel in the afternoon after lunch. Normally, the vehicles never left in one convoy, they would leave at an interval of about 10 minutes. It was a forested area teeming with wildlife.”
“I can’t remember the number of days Prince Charles stayed on every visit I recall, his trips ended at Prince Charles Camping Site in the Aberdare Forest, a few kilometres from the Treetops Hotel,” he recalled.
They would leave the camp when the prince was settled, and the hotel management finalised the next day's activities.
Mr Gathua says he would have wanted to meet the King face to face but regrets that he will not be visiting Nyeri.
“I blame the collapse of the Ark and Treetops on mismanagement. But I thought the family would have visited Baden Powell cottage in Nyeri. Baden’s family were also my best customers, especially his wife who brought me a lot of gifts, they never agreed to be driven by anyone else,” recalled Mr Gathua.
He also had the privilege to be part of Queen Elizabeth II’s entourage as the lead driver in 1983 when she spent the night at the Treetops Hotel.
When Princess Ann visited Kenya 1n 1971 with her brother Charles, it was Mr Gathua who drove her from the Treetops Hotel to Ark Hotel in Nyeri, where he handed her over for the rest of the trip to Sagana State Lodge. Among the awards decorating his living room is the Gold Star Award by Outspan Hotel. he was also awarded best worker by the Cotu Institute of Workers, Education, and Long Service Platinum Award by Blocks Hotel.
Listening to his English, one gets convinced that the seasoned driver must have gone to university, but the reality is that he dropped out in Class Six due to a mistake by his father.
Britain's King Charles III (center) shakes hands with Kenyan President William Ruto as Kenyan Frist Lady Rachel Ruto (right) and Britain's Queen Camilla look on upon his arrival for the ceremonial welcome at the State House in Nairobi on October 31, 2023.
Photo credit: AFP
“I was very bright in class, but I never went beyond Class Six after a colonial settler in Nyeri warned the school against allowing me to proceed to Class Seven after he differed with my father. My father was a bus conductor who refused to carry luggage for the colonial settlers unless he was paid for the services. After dropping out of school, I decided to teach myself English and read the Bible.”
“It is not that I was assigned to carry VIPs or plan their travels because I was the best driver, but because I could communicate in English, with self-discipline,” he said.
He attained a driving licence in 1959, and worked as a bus driver on the Nyeri-Nyahururu-Nakuru route at Sh2 per day salary, before joining the Treetops Hotel for a Sh300 monthly salary.
The other reason he wanted to meet King Charles II was to personally hand over a letter he had written to the British High Commissioner with no response.
The last letter he wrote was in 2011, delivered to the UK High Commissioner's office in Nairobi and rubber-stamped as received but with no response.
In the letter, he wants the UK government to intervene in his compensation claim against a colonial chief he accuses of grabbing his father’s land.
“The chief used the immense powers bestowed upon him by the colonial government. I believe this injustice can only be addressed by the British government,” Mr Gathua says.
