King Badu Bonsu II Executed by Dutch Colonialists

In 1838, after decapitating two Dutch emissaries and decorating his throne with their heads; King Badu Bonsu II, the ruler of the Ashante tribe in present day Ghana, was himself beheaded by Dutch soldiers. For more than 150 years, King Bonsu’s head was lost until an author found it stored in a jar of formaldehyde in a Dutch museum. Ghana immediately asked for the King’s severed head back and; in July 2009, members of the Ahanta flew to The Hague and staged a mourning ceremony that included pouring gin libations on the floor of the Foreign Ministry before taking the head back to Ghana.

King Badu Bonsu II

Before he was executed by the Dutch in 1838, King Badu Bonsu II, was the overlord of the Ahanta tribe in the Western Region. Badu Bonsu II, is believed to have been decapitated in retaliation for the killing of two Dutch emissaries in 1838. According to the Dutch government, Badu Bonsu II was handed over by his own ”nation” to Dutch colonists; who were then in control of a part of the former Gold Coast (present-day Ghana) that included Ahanta tribal lands. Arthur Japin, a Dutch author who discovered the king’s head when he was working on a historical novel; noted that Badu Bonsu II’s head was taken by Maj. Gen. Jan Verveer in 1838 in retaliation for the king’s killing of two Dutch emissaries; whose heads were displayed as trophies on his throne.

Preserved in a jar of formaldehyde, the head of King Badu Bonsu II was discovered gathering dust; in a laboratory in the Leiden University Medical Centre by Arthur Japin, a best-selling Dutch author.

How it was found

It had been there since its arrival in the late 1830s from what was then called the Dutch Gold Coast and is today Ghana. Japin, the Dutch novelist, explained how he had helped reunite Badu Bonsu II head with his body. ”I was researching my novel about an Ahanta boy brought to Holland in 1838, and in the process I learned about the head of the king, who had been a friend of the boy. I had been looking for the head for more than 10 years,” Japin was quoted to have said. ”Finally, in 2002 I found it locked away in a dark cupboard where it had been for more than 170 years.” After hearing of the head’s location in 2008, Ghana filed a request for its return, saying, ”without burial of the head, the deceased will be haunted in the afterlife.”

Reclaiming the Head

In March 2009, Ghana government officials announced that it would be returned to its homeland for proper burial. The Dutch and Ghanaian governments and a member of Badu Bonsu’s Ahanta tribe signed a pact in The Hague for the handover of the head; which remained out of sight in a room elsewhere in the foreign ministry building for the ceremony. Ahanta tribe leaders held an emotional ritual, pouring alcohol on the floor of the conference room; while invoking the chief’s spirit in the presence of Ghanaian nationals dressed in the country’s red and black mourning colours. Ghana claimed the head of Badu Bonsu II, which had been preserved in formaldehyde; in a bottle among the anatomy collection of the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) on July 23, 2009.

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PNG Report Calls for Replacing King Charles as Head of State to Address ‘Neo-Colonialism’ Concerns

Port Moresby: A major governance review in Papua New Guinea has recommended removing King Charles III as the nation’s head of state, arguing that the current arrangement no longer reflects PNG’s sovereignty or its political realities.

The proposal comes from the Constitutional and Law Reform Commission, whose long-term roadmap for the country was recently delivered to Parliament. The report says retaining a foreign monarch continues to invite claims of “neo-colonialism” and prevents the office of head of state from playing a constructive role during periods of political instability or widespread corruption.

Citing events such as the 2011 political impasse, the Commission argues that the country needs a Papua New Guinean head of state with the authority to intervene in exceptional circumstances. The report says this shift would allow the office to function as a genuine instrument of good governance rather than a symbolic post with limited power.

The review also notes that replacing the King would mark a clear statement of national independence, more than 50 years after PNG moved from Australian administration to sovereign rule.

The proposal has triggered debate at home. An editorial in The National pushed back against the Commission’s recommendation, arguing that the monarchy’s neutrality acts as a stabilising force and a symbol of unity in a deeply politicised environment. The editorial said this “invisible but constant” presence remains valuable at a time when political divisions often run deep.

King Charles has served as PNG’s head of state since independence in 1975 and has visited the country twice. His representative, Governor-General Bob Dadae, is elected by Parliament but exercises largely ceremonial powers under the current constitutional system.

If PNG eventually chooses to adopt a republican model, it could still remain within the Commonwealth, following a path taken by Barbados in 2021 and being considered by Jamaica.

Parliament is expected to consider the report’s recommendations as part of a broader national discussion on sovereignty, governance, and the country’s political future. The release of the review has already reignited public debate about whether the time has come for PNG to fully chart its own constitutional course.

📸 Then Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Pacific Islands Regiment (RPIR)-His Majesty King Charles III, King of Papua New Guinea