Rare photo of HRM Oba Olateru Olagbegi II, the Olowo of Owo.

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HRM Oba Olateru Olagbegi II, the Olowo of Owo.
Circa: August 18, 1959

The Olowo of Owo wearing elaborate headdress made of red tubular coral beads.

Oba Sir Olateru Olagbegi II, KBE (August 1910 – 1998) was appointed Olowo in 1941 and ruled for 25 years before he was deposed. His exile from power was a fall out of a regional crisis between two Action Group leaders: Awolowo and Samuel Ladoke Akintola The Action Group which was launched in his palace a decade earlier, was led by Awolowo in the 1950s. A battle of wills between the two gladiators in the early 1960s saw Oba Olateru pitching his tent with Akintola.

He was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 1960. He died in October 1998. The Olateru Olagbegi family is one of the largest and educated families in Yoruba land. Oba Olateru Olagbegi was reputed to have had over 140 children, and that about 121 are University graduates. Oba Olateru Olagbegi’s father, Olagbegi I, was also reputed to have had about 300 wives, and that by the time he passed on, five of his wives were virgins. Owo has the largest Palace in Africa, which was also declared a National Monument by the Federal Government of NigeriaThe Olowo’s Palace has as many as 100 Courtyards. Each courtyard had a specific function and was dedicated to a particular deity. The largest of the courtyards, was said to have been about twice the size of a football field.

The courtyards were beautifully paved with ornamentals and broken pottery. The palace seats on about 9.5 Acres of Land.

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