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Ntare V
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Ntare V

King Ntare V at his coronation ceremony

King of Burundi

Reign 8 July 1966 – 28 November 1966

Coronation 3 September 1966

Predecessor Mwambutsa IV

Successor Monarchy abolished

Prime minister Michel Micombero

Born Prince Charles Ndizeye of Burundi

2 December 1947

Gitega, Burundi, Ruanda-Urundi

Died 29 April 1972 (aged 24)

Gitega, Burundi
 House Ntwero

Father Mwambutsa IV Bangiricenge

Mother Baramparaye Ruhasha

Religion Catholicism

Ntare V of Burundi (born Charles Ndizeye; 2 December 1947 – 29 April 1972)

was the last king of Burundi (or mwami), reigning from July to November 1966.
Until his accession, he was known as Crown Prince Charles Ndizeye.
Early life[Charles Ndizeye was the son of King Mwambutsa IV (1912–1977)
and Queen Baramparaye Ruhasha (1929–2007). He had one half-brother
(Prince Louis Rwagasore, assassinated 1961 whilst prime minister), and two half-
sisters: Princess Rosa Paula Iribagiza (born 1934) and Princess Regina Kanyange
(died 1987). Ndizeye was educated at Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland
Rule
After a Hutu-led coup attempt in October 1965, Mwambutsa IV went into exile
in Switzerland. In March 1966, Mwambusta IV designated his only surviving son as
heir to the throne.[1] The Crown Prince then formally deposed his father and his
father's government in July 1966. He was formally crowned on 3 September, taking
the regnal name Ntare V.[2] King Ntare himself was deposed, later the same year,
in a military coup led by Michel Micombero;[3] the former king went into exile in West
Germany and later Uganda. He tried to return to Burundi in 1972 but was
assassinated shortly afterwards.
Execution
Ntare V returned to Burundi in March 1972. Soon afterwards the Hutus began an
uprising against the government and established the short-lived state of Martyazo.
Ugandan President Idi Amin claimed he received a written guarantee from
President Micombero that Ntare could return to Burundi and live there as a private
citizen. Using the helicopter at his disposal from Amin, Ntare arrived. Within a few
hours he was put under house arrest in the former palace in Gitega.[4] Soon after,
an official radio broadcast proclaimed that Ntare was trying to instigate
a mercenary invasion of Burundi to take back rule.[5] Some ministers favored
keeping him under restricted protection in Gitega, while others wanted him dead.
The situation was unofficially resolved when Ntare was assassinated sometime
between Saturday evening, 29 April, and the following morning, under
circumstances which remain unclear.
Whether there was a conspiracy or his death involved with a violent spontaneous
outbreak in Gitega has not been determined.[6] Researcher Nigel Watt argued that
Ntare's murder was motivated by the Burundian government's fear that
monarchists might support the Hutu rebellion.[7] Radio Nationale du Burundi (RNB
Broadcasting) announced that the king was shot while attempting to escape from
the palace where he had been "under arrest". The king's supporters claim he was
taken from the Royal Palace and executed by a firing squad before being thrown
into a common grave. The king was 24 years old. Meanwhile, the Hutu uprising
was quelled by Micombero's forces. Between 80,000 and 210,000 people died in
the ensuing war and genocide.[8][9]
Distinctions
National orders
 Grand Master of the Royal Order of Prince Louis Rwagasore.[citation needed]
 Grand Master of the Royal Order of Rukinzo (Royal Male Drum).[citation needed]
 Grand Master of the Royal Order of Karyenda (Royal Female Drum).[citation
needed]

 Grand Master of the Military Order of Karyenda (Royal Female Drum).

[citation needed]

Foreign honour[
 Congo-Kinshasa: Grand Cross of the Order of the Leopard
Ancestry
hideAncestors of Ntare V of Burundi

16. Ntare IV, Sultan and Mwami of Burundi

8. Mwezi IV, Sultan and Mwami of

Burundi

17. Vyano, of the Mwenengwe clan

 4. Mutaga IV, Sultan and Mwami of Burundi

9. Vyano, of the Bunyakarama clan

2. Mwambutsa IV, King of Burundi

5. Princess Ngenzahago, of the Munyagisaka
clan
1. Ntare V, King of
Burundi

6. Umuganwa ntare Mathias Ruhasha, of the

Bakundo clan

3. Baramparaye
 7. Bernadette Mucereza

References
1. ^ Michael Crowder (1984). The Cambridge History of Africa. Cambridge University Press.
pp. 737–. ISBN 978-0-521-22409-3.
2. ^ (in French) Le Monde (3 September 1966): "Le prince Charles Ndizeye est proclamé roi".
3. ^ Watt 2016, p. 34.
4. ^ Charles Mohr (6 April 1972). "Burundi Seizes Ex‐King After Luring Him Back With a Pledge of
Safe Conduct". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
5. ^ "Burundi Says Ex‐King Is Dead as Coup Fails". The New York Times. 1 May 1972.
Retrieved 13 January 2022.
6. ^ Melady, Thomas (1974). Burundi: The Tragic years. New York: Orbis Books. pp. 5–6. ISBN 0-
88344-045-8.
7. ^ Watt 2016, pp. 35–36.
8. ^ White, Matthew. Death Tolls for the Major Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century: C.
Burundi (1972-73, primarily Hutu killed by Tutsi) 120,000
9. ^ International Commission of Inquiry for Burundi (2002). Paragraph 85. "The Micombero
regime responded with a genocidal repression that is estimated to have caused over a hundred
thousand victims and forced several hundred thousand Hutus into exile"

Works cited
 Watt, Nigel (2016) [1st pub. 2008]. Burundi: Biography of a Small African
Country (Revised and updated ed.). London: C. Hurst & Co. ISBN 978-
1849045094.