Peggielene Bartels

Amuah Afenyi VI
Hon. Nana of Tantum
Investiture 25 September 2008[1][2]
Predecessor Amuah Afenyi V[3]:2
Born 1953 (age 63–64)
Cape Coast, Ghana[3]:2
Full name
Peggielene Bartels
Religion Christian[4]

Nana Amuah-Afenyi VI (born Peggielene Bartels in 1953[4]), known informally as King Peggy,[2] is the reigning chief of the town of Tantum[5] (or Otuam[1][2]), in the Mfantsiman Municipal District, Ghana. Born in Ghana and a naturalized citizen of the United States, she has worked as a secretary at the Embassy of Ghana in Washington, D.C. since the 1970s. Following the death of her uncle in 2008, she was selected as his successor through a series of traditional rituals.[2]

Life

Bartels' husband, William, is a member of the Afro-European Bartels family, whose ancestor Cornelius Ludewich Bartels was Governor-General of the Dutch Gold Coast between 1798 and 1804, and whose son Carel Hendrik Bartels was the most prominent biracial slave trader on the Gold Coast in the second quarter of the nineteenth century.[6]

Since her accession,[2] Bartels has spent several weeks each year in Ghana[4] on the anniversary of her coronation.[1] She is notably the village's first female chief; she plans to become a full-time ruler after her retirement from the embassy.

Dominion

Among Bartels' territorial possessions as chief are a 1,000-acre (4.0 km2) family-owned estate and an eight-bedroom palace.[3][7]

Tantum is a coastal fishing village in Mfantsiman Municipal District.[5] It is located at 5°13.3′N 0°48.5′W / 5.2217°N 0.8083°W / 5.2217; -0.8083 (Tantum). (It may be part of the Ekumfi District, which was formed from part of the Mfantseman District in 2012.[8])

Book

She and writer Eleanor Herman have co-written King Peggy (ISBN 978-0-385-53432-1), published in 2012 by Doubleday.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Connelly, Phoebe (2012-12-27). "In Washington, D.C., Peggielene Bartels is a Secretary. In Ghana, She’s a King.". Mental Floss. Retrieved 2012-12-30.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Quist-Arcton, Ofeibea (11 November 2010). "In Ghanaian Village, American Woman Reigns As King". Morning Edition. NPR. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
  3. 1 2 3 Herman, Eleanor (2010-03-14). "All the King's Men: As the first female ruler of Otuam, Ghana, Peggielene Bartels has had to deal with a legacy of corruption — and no shortage of sexism". Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-03-17.
  4. 1 2 3 "About the Authors". kingpeggy.com. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
  5. 1 2 "Municipality information". mfantseman.ghanadistricts.gov.gh. Mfantseman Municipal Assembly. 2006. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
  6. ↑ "Bartels, Carel Hendrik". GoldCoastDataBase. 2012-04-06. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
  7. ↑ Schwartzman, Paul (2009-09-16). "Secretary by Day, Royalty by Night: Embassy Worker Remotely Rules a Ghanaian Town". Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  8. ↑ "Ekumfi (New)". Retrieved 2013-08-06. Ekumfi District with its capital Essarkyir was carved from Mfantseman and forms part of the new districts and municipalities created in the year 2012 and were inaugurated at their various locations simultaneously on the 28th June, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Official website of King Peggy the Biography". kingpeggy.com. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
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