When Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV walked through the gates of Kampala International School Uganda (KISU) in Bukoto, he was already a king. Crowned at the age of three in 1995, the young monarch carried the weight of Tooro Kingdom on his shoulders long before most of his classmates had even started secondary school.
Yet at KISU, the international school that follows a British-based curriculum leading to Cambridge IGCSE and the International Baccalaureate Diploma, King Oyo was determined to experience something closer to ordinary teenage life.
After completing his primary education at Aga Khan Primary School in Kampala, Oyo joined KISU for his secondary studies. The school, established in 1993 and later expanded to its current spacious campus in Bukoto, offered a diverse environment with students from dozens of nationalities. It was here that the young king found space to develop his interests beyond the palace walls.
Sources close to his school years and biographical accounts note that Oyo excelled in art, music, mathematics and swimming. He took part in the school’s sporting and creative activities, making use of facilities that included a 25-metre swimming pool, music rooms, art studios and playing fields. Classmates later recalled that while soldiers and security personnel were a constant presence around him, inside the classroom and on the sports field he was treated largely as one of them.
“My friends at school could not care less that I’m a king. They like me for who I am, not for what I am,” Oyo once said in an interview during his teenage years, capturing the dual life he lived between royal duties and school routines.
The presence of security made blending in difficult at times. He could not simply leave campus or join spontaneous outings the way other students did. Still, accounts from those who knew him at the time describe a teenager who enjoyed football, music, video games and the usual teenage conversations. He was known for his humility and ability to make people around him feel at ease, qualities that would later define his public image as an adult monarch.
KISU itself later acknowledged him as a distinguished alumnus. Following his death in August 2026, the school publicly joined the Babiito Royal Family and the people of Tooro in mourning, describing him with pride as a member of the KISU family.
After completing his studies at the international school, Oyo proceeded to the University of Winchester in the United Kingdom, where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management in 2013. The combination of an international secondary education at KISU and university training abroad helped shape a king who could navigate both traditional cultural responsibilities and modern development challenges.
In many ways, his years at Kampala International School Uganda represented a rare window in which the world’s youngest reigning monarch was allowed, at least partially, to simply be a student.
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