Visiting Chiefs of Empire: Aristocratic Personage and Colonial Indignities in Britain

African paramount chiefs visiting Britain provide a context to colonial itineraries that is markedly different from imperial travels to colonies. Far from being pawns and exhibits of empire who are fascinated by imperial spectacle and European civilisation, chiefs were also cultural agents who advanced ideologies that shaped the form of empire. This article argues that between theorisations of marvel and agency lies the lived realities of chiefly travels to the metropole. Aristocratic travels were burdensome on either side of the empire, and African chiefs confronted untold indignities against which they strove to keep their poise and honour. Seeing chiefly travels in its full scope reveals the uncertainties of culture and colonial power, and the aristocratic strategies by which chiefships survived and thrive despite colonial denigrations of them.