‘Oba’ Charles can keep his bronze, say Benin chiefs
KING CHARLES can keep his Benin bronze despite demands for repatriation, chiefs of the Benin people have said, potentially avoiding a diplomatic dispute.
The monarch owns one of the many artworks seized by British forces in 1897 from the Kingdom of Benin, in modernday Nigeria, whose government is fighting to have looted artefacts returned.
But the King will be exempt from this campaign and welcome to keep his bronze on display at Windsor Castle, traditional chiefs in Nigeria have said, because it was given as a gift to his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
The concession comes after demands that all artworks looted from the kingdom be returned to the present-day king or “Oba” of the Benin people, and pledges from UK institutions to return the artefacts.
One source close to the modern Benin royal court told The Sunday Telegraph the Oba would never wish his fellow monarch to repatriate any artworks, saying that the King ruled from a “special throne” and that his bronze should be allowed to remain with him.
Chief Stanley Omoregie Obamwonyi, a member of the Oba’s inner council, said: “If I know my Oba, he would never demand a gift to be returned. The relations between the royal court of Benin and the royal court in Britain are very cordial. The Benin court and the UK court are one and the same.”
The Benin bronze is held at Windsor Castle as part of the Royal Collection Trust. The 30cm-high bust was made in the 16th century.
During a military expedition by British forces in 1897, the palace of the then Oba was looted, and thousands of artworks known as the “Benin bronzes” were seized and auctioned off around the world, including the one now owned by Charles.
It made its way through the art market, and at some time between 1946 and 1957 it was bought for the Nigerian National Museum in Lagos.
But the artwork was not to remain, as in 1973 Nigeria’s military leader General Yakubu Gowonal plucked the piece from the museum and brought it to the UK for a state visit, then presented it to the Queen as a gift.