The Queen on Treetops

Treetops Hotel. Image from Wikimedia Commons

On February 6, 1952, hunter Jim Corbett logged on the visitors' book, writing: “For the first time in the history of the world, a young girl climbed into a tree one day a Princess and after having what she described as her most thrilling experience she climbed down from the tree next day a Queen — God bless her.” The princess went to become Queen Elizabeth II.

Treetops Hotel was built literally into the top of the trees by hotelier Eric Sherbrooke Walker. It was opened in 1932 as a tree house, where guests could get a close view of the local wildlife. The original modest two-room tree house later expanded to become a 35-room hotel.

Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip were staying at Treetops Hotel when news of the death of King George VI reached Kenya. Major Norman Jarman, Manager of Treetops, was one of the first people in Kenya to learn of the king’s passing. “I was sitting having a sherry with Martin Charteris [Private Secretary to Princess Elizabeth] before lunch,” he noted. “The editor of the Nairobi Standard called me and told me they had had a message over the teleprinter saying the King had died and asking if they could print the story. We asked them to hold fire while we confirmed it was true.”

The royal party left Treetops on February 6, 1952, and proceeded to Sagana Lodge, some 40 kilometres away, where the princess was told of the king’s death and where she accepted her new destiny as queen.  She was the first British monarch since King George I to be outside the country at the moment of succession, and also the first in modern times not to know the exact time of her accession because her father had died in his sleep at an unknown time. But one thing is for sure, when King George VI breathed his last, the princess was gracing the state dinner hosted in her honor at the Treetops Hotel. Upon learning of the king’s passing the following day, she immediately returned to Britain.

As to the fate of Treetops Hotel, the African guerrillas burnt it in 1954, at the height of the Mau Mau. It was rebuilt afterwards, near the same waterhole and has since become a fashionable destination for the rich and famous, thanks in part to its royal connection.