Staff leave flowers for the Queen at closed Kenyan safari lodge

2022-09-11

Staff leave flowers for Her Majesty at closed Kenyan safari lodge where she ‘went up the tree a Princess and came down a Queen’ following the death of her father King George VI in 1952

Treetops Hotel was elaborate treehouse on the edge of a watering hole in Kenya
Elizabeth, then a Princess aged 25, had been touring Commonwealth in 1952
She stayed the night at Treetops with her new husband, the Duke of Edinburgh
The following morning she was told that her father had died and she was Queen
Now, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II 70 years later, former staff have returned to light candles, place white roses and lay out a book of condolences
Full coverage: Click here to see all our coverage of the Queen’s passing

The Kenyan safari lodge where Princess Elizabeth became the Queen has hosted tributes to the late monarch following her death.

The Treetops Hotel – an elaborate treehouse on the edge of a watering hole in Aberdare National Park – was where Elizabeth, aged 25, famously ‘went up the tree a Princess and came down a Queen.’

She had been touring the Commonwealth in February 1952 and stayed the night at the Treetops – a three-bedroom cabin built in an ancient fig tree – with her new husband, the Duke of Edinburgh.

The following morning, she was told that her father, King George VI, had died during the night, making her the new monarch.

Now, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II 70 years later, former staff have returned to light candles, place white roses and lay out a book of condolences.

‘Thank you, Ma’am, rest in peace,’ reads the one only entry so far, purportedly from a British army captain based nearby, The Telegraph reports.

A memorial for the Queen as seen inside Treetops Hotel on September 10, 2022

Pictured: Well-wishers lay flowers at Treetops Hotel on September 10, 2022 in Nyeri, Kenya

Princess Elizabeth with the Duke of Edinburgh at Treetops, Kenya, 1952

And Amos Ndegwa, a 68-year-old ex-bush ranger whose grandfather helped build the hotel, said that the Queen had been ‘like a mother’ to him, adding: ‘All the jobs I’ve had were because of her coming to Treetops.’

During the time of the princess’ visit, British colonial authorities had been putting down the Mau Mau Uprising, and there were fears that young Elizabeth could have been a target.

Big-game hunter and naturalist Jim Corbett went along with the couple on their journey and had spent a portion of the night outside the lodge with a shotgun on the lookout for leopards.

He later wrote in the visitor’s book: ‘A young girl climbed into a tree one day a Princess … she climbed down from the tree next day a Queen.’

The original treehouse was burned to the ground by Mau Mau rebels in 1954, leaving only a metal plaque remaining.

The plaque reads: ‘In this Mgumu tree her Royal Highness the Princess Elizabeth and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh spent the night of February 5 1952.

‘While here Princess Elizabeth succeeded to the throne through the death of her father King George VI.’

Years later, a hotel was constructed on the other side of the nearby watering hole. The Queen visited in 1982.

But it has remained closed since the pandemic, leaving the former staff jobless.

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