Washington, D.C., woman becomes queen of Ghana village

Story from PRI’s The World. Listen above to the full audio report.

Juanita Britton of Washington, D.C., is about to become a Queen.

That’s right, the American woman who owns an art gallery in Anacostia is about to become Queen Mother Nana Badwe Adubiya II of Konko Village in Ghana.

Britton said an old boyfriend, a man she hadn’t seen in 17 years, called her up recently and said he needed her to be his queen.

“It came to him that I would be a choice to help him with his kingdom,” Britton said.

Now this isn’t your typical king-queen relationship. King Nana Mosi is trying to redevelop his village’s economy and one way Ghana chiefs are doing that is by developing connections with outside leaders, like Britton.

In exchange for their help, these well-connected outsider are rewarded with titles, like development king or queen mother.

That’s the role Britton will play.