Colonial history Sagana Lodge was built in 1949–1950 as a royal residence. It was a wedding present in 1947 to the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh (later
the Duke of Edinburgh and Queen
Elizabeth II respectively) from the colony whilst they were in Kenya. The lodge was leased to the couple by the government of Kenya. In 1952 the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh were staying at Sagana Lodge upon their return from
Treetops Hotel. The beginning of the
Mau Mau Rebellion had made Kenya less secure and
Ian Henderson, of
Kenya Police Force Special Branch, was appointed head of the security detail at Sagana Lodge. While staying at Sagana Lodge, Elizabeth received the news that her father King
George VI had died and she had
succeeded to the throne as Queen
Elizabeth II. This was a unique circumstance for such an event. She was the first
British monarch since the accession of
George I to be outside Great Britain 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).
Post-colonial history The lease to Sagana Lodge was returned to Kenya in 1963. In 1976, it, along with several other official residences of the President of Kenya, were declared protected zones. The lodge's most prominent use, in independent Kenya's history was when
Mwai Kibaki, then the president of Kenya, and
Raila Odinga, used the site as a retreat to come to agreement on Kenya's
grand coalition government. ==References==