Asantehene corrects misconception of gift to British queen as a declaration of war

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, during a lecture at the British Museum on July 19, 2024, educated the British about a symbolic present from the 10th King of the Ashanti Kingdom, Nana Mensah Bonsu, to the late Queen Victoria, whose message was not effectively decoded.

The present—a golden axe—was sent to the Queen only eight years after the destructive Sagrenti War, which left Kumasi in flames and saw some treasures stolen by the British troops.

The present was misconstrued as a declaration of war; however, in actuality, it reflected a critical trait of the Kingdom: reconciliation and peace.

“There was the ancient golden axe, which was part of the royal collection at Lisle, that was given as a gift to Queen Victoria in 1882 by my great-great-granduncle Nana Mensah Bonsu. British diplomats at the time were aghast. They thought of the gift of an axe almost as a declaration of war because the axe is deemed a weapon of violence or destruction.

“But what was the motivation behind the gift? It was a diplomatic symbol of negotiation intended to convey to the Empress that in Asante, an axe was used to cut through difficult things, including misunderstandings or disputes, and to reassure her of Asante’s readiness to sit down together to cut through any misunderstanding to achieve peace.”

This trait, His Majesty said, is ingrained as part of the Asantes, citing Agyemang Prempeh I, who returned from exile to hold out a hand of friendship to the British despite their unforgivable harm.

“The fact that we have overcome the pains of the past speaks to the profound value system compressed into the chalice of our heritage and makes us steadfast in the defense of our independence and realistic and wise in the pursuit of peace.”