He was just four years old when his uncle, Prempeh I (the 13th Asantehene), his maternal grandmother, queen Nana Yaa Akyaa, and other family members were captured and exiled to the Seychelles Islands by the British in 1896.
Prempeh I returned from exile in 1924 and died in May 1931, and Otumfuo Prempeh II was subsequently elected as his successor; however, he was elected as merely Kumasihene rather than Asantehene.
In 1935, after strenuous efforts on his part, the colonial authorities allowed Prempeh II to assume the title of Asantehene.
In 1935 the British decided to officially recognise the Asante Kingdom after 4 decades since they invaded Kumasi, abducting Prempeh I and exiling him for 28 years!
In 1949 Prempeh II was instrumental in founding Prempeh College, a prestigious all-boys boarding school in Kumasi, Ashanti.
He also gave a large tract of land for the construction of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), which in 1969 awarded him an honorary degree of Doctor of Science.
In October 1969 he was elected as the first President of the National House of Chiefs, and shortly thereafter was appointed to the Council of State.
Nana Prempeh II’s birth reportedly aligned with the announcement of a captured mysterious leopard that escaped, killed two and wounded five at Dominase in Kumasi.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu Agyeman Prempeh II was born in 1892.
After years of unsettled myth about the mysterious leopard and the birth of Otumfuo Osei Tutu Agyeman Prempeh II, a historical narrative has attempted to chronicle the events of August 1892.
The historical narrative gives account of the story behind the ancient monument (statue) of a man with a gong-gong standing on a leopard at the central area of Kumasi.
According to a historical narrative by Yaw Pre, cited by Asanteman News on social media, the gong-beaters announced to the residents of the traditional 77 wards (sub-towns) of Kumasi that a dangerous leopard had besieged the city in August 1892.
Nana Kwaku Dua III, the then Asantehene, reportedly summoned his warriors and skilled hunters with clear instructions demanding they”catch the leopard [‘ɔsebɔ’] alive”.
While the search team tasked to find and capture the leopard alive were still working to spot it, Nana Abakoma of Edweso Besease, a princess and granddaughter of Asantehemaa Nana Afua Kobi I and wife of Nana Kwaku Owusu was heavily pregnant and due to give birth.
According to Yaw Afre, the dangerous leopard was finally captured but not until it had killed two persons and injured five others before it was seized alive at Dominase, a suburb of Kumasi.
Just when the warriors announced to the Asantehene about the capture of the leopard, the mmagyegyefuo (royal nannies) also came to announce the delivery of a royal baby by Nana Abakoma at Edweso.
An elated Nana Kwaku Dua III proclaimed that the baby would be christened Barima Kwame Kyeretwie, meaning ‘catch the leopard’.
A kente cloth was also created and designed to immortalise this wonderful event.
Subsequently, by divine alignment, Barima Kwame Kyeretwie became the 14th Asantehene with the stool name Otumfuo Osei Tutu Agyeman Prempeh II.
After his death on May 27th 1970, he was honoured in several ways.
The Jubilee Museum was used to honour him.
So it was named after him posthumously.
The Prempeh Jubilee Museum is a museum located in Kumasi, Ghana.
It was established in 1954.
This museum is a fascinating introduction to Ashanti culture and history.
Among the displays are artefacts relating to the Ashanti king Prempeh II, including the king’s war attire, ceremonial clothing, jewellery, protective amulets, personal equipment for bathing and dining, furniture, royal insignia and some fine brass weights for weighing gold.
Constructed to resemble an Ashanti chief’s house, it has a courtyard in front and walls adorned with traditional carved symbols.
Among the museum’s intriguing photos is a rare one of the famous Golden Stool.
The museum also contains the fake golden stool handed over to the British in 1900.
