The jewelry that cost Marie Antoinette her head
August 2024 saw the reopening of one of Africa's most famous hotel properties, Treetops Lodge. Located in Kenya's Aberdare National Park, Treetops is where a young Princess Elizabeth stayed with her husband, Prince Philip, in 1952 during a royal visit to the country. It's also where she learned that her father, King George VI, had passed away and of her ascension to the throne. The property today is fully refurbished and remains a wildlife hotspot. But what did it look like in the early '50s, and how did it evolve to become a favorite safari haven?
Click through and revisit the African hotel where a princess became a queen.
In 1952, Treetops appeared as a four-room treehouse cradled in a huge 300-year-old mgumu tree. On the night of February 5, Elizabeth climbed into the tree a princess. The following day, she climbed down it a queen.
The royal couple's visit coincided with the death of Elizabeth's father, King George VI. She in fact learned of his passing at Sagana Lodge, where they'd both traveled to before and after their stay at Treetops. The lodge had been leased to Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh as a wedding gift in 1947. Elizabeth listened in silence as her husband broke the news of her father's death and her accession to the throne.
Elizabeth, then 21, married Philip on November 20, 1947. Their wedding, which took place at Westminster Abbey, was broadcast on the radio around the world. The royal family later convened at Buckingham Palace for an official photoshoot.
Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip settled into domestic routine. On November 14, 1948, Prince Charles, now King Charles III, was born. The couple's second child, Anne, the Princess Royal, was born on August 15, 1950.
On February 1, 1952, the royal couple embarked on a tour of Kenya. They flew into Nairobi where they were met by British government officials (Kenya at that time was a British colony).
The prince and princess were entertained at a garden party at Government House in Nairobi, hosted by the governor of British East Africa.
The presence of royalty in Nairobi attracted a sizeable press corps. Photographers and journalists gathered en masse to record the occasion.
Royal duties during the couple's stay included inspecting the Guard of Honor at the Kenya Regiment Headquarters.
Three days after their arrival in Kenya, the prince and princess traveled up-country to Sagana and from there they drove after lunch on February 5 to Treetops, in Aberdare National Park.
Meanwhile, last-minute preparations were being made at Treetops to host the VIP guests, including a double-checking of the wooden ladder that provided access to the property.
The events that followed are well documented. Upon the news of the king's death, the royal couple immediately broke off their tour and returned to England. A subdued Elizabeth, now Queen Elizabeth II, arrived back in London dressed in mourning black. She immediately commenced duties as the new monarch.
Despite her grief, Elizabeth dictated a note of thanks to Treetops' owners, Captain Eric Sherbrooke Walker and his wife Lady Bettie, extending appreciation for her comfortable stay and the "tremendous experience of watching the wild game in its natural surroundings."
Eric and Bettie Walker opened Treetops in 1932, originally as an adjunct facility to the Outspan Hotel in Nyeri, which they had also built and owned.
Treetops initially served as a viewing platform from which to observe the wildlife that gathered at a nearby waterhole and saltlick. The structure was later expanded to provide guest accommodation. The hotel was the only place of its kind in the world and proved an enormous success.
When Philip and Elizabeth visited Treetops, Kenya was on the verge of war. The Mau Mau rebellion had gathered momentum, and by October 1952 a state of emergency had been declared. In January 1954, Mau Mau rebels burnt down Treetops, which had acted as a lookout for the King's African Rifles.
Queen Elizabeth II was crowned on June 2, 1953, in a grand coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey. It would be 30 years before she would see Treetops again.
After the uprising had been quelled, Treetops was rebuilt; first as a structure in a chestnut tree similar in design to the original, and later as a totally new 35-room hotel built on stilt supports.
In November 1983, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh made an emotional return to Treetops. The royal couple were escorted through the grounds by hotel officials and an armed guard, deployed as protection against any threat posed by wild animals.
The suite where the monarch stayed in 1983 was subsequently named the Princess Elizabeth Suite in honor of her first visit in 1953.
As a reminder to guests of the historic royal sojourn, a plaque was erected on the hotel wall, explaining that: "THE REMAINS OF THE ORIGINAL TREETOPS CAN BE SEEN ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WATERHOLE."
And the most popular room requested by guests? Yes, everybody wanted to stay in the suite patronized by royalty.
The rustic lodge continued to function throughout the 1980s, '90s, and into the new millennium. But in October 2021, the hotel was forced to close due to a drop in tourism caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Three years later, Treetops reopened as Treetops Lodge, refurbished and promising an economic revival for the local community.
During the enforced closure, the room where Queen Elizabeth II slept in 1983 underwent a substantial makeover.
Welcoming back long overdue guests were the elephants Treetops had long been famous for.
Treetops Lodge lies in the path of an ancient elephant migratory route between the Aberdare Ranges and Mount Kenya National Park. Guests are therefore guaranteed regular sightings of these majestic beasts.
And it was as a young princess that Elizabeth also marveled at the wildlife clustered in and around Treetops. The new lodge has a framed scrap of notepaper upon which she recorded her encounters with wildlife, including a herd of nearly 50 elephants, eight rhinos seen at night, and a solitary baboon, among other animals.
The lodge also perpetuates the memory of its royal guest with photographs commemorating her reign and her passing, on September 8, 2022.
Sources: (BBC) (Reuters) (The Guardian) (The Royal Family)
See also: The best safari destinations in Africa
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Treetops reopens: where Queen Elizabeth II once stayed
LIFESTYLE Royalty
August 2024 saw the reopening of one of Africa's most famous hotel properties, Treetops Lodge. Located in Kenya's Aberdare National Park, Treetops is where a young Princess Elizabeth stayed with her husband, Prince Philip, in 1952 during a royal visit to the country. It's also where she learned that her father, King George VI, had passed away and of her ascension to the throne. The property today is fully refurbished and remains a wildlife hotspot. But what did it look like in the early '50s, and how did it evolve to become a favorite safari haven?
Click through and revisit the African hotel where a princess became a queen.