{UAH} Idi Amin's 'favourite' widow who lived life of obscurity by running North London hair salon for 30 years
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Idi Amin's 'favourite' widow who lived life of obscurity by running North London hair salon for 30 years after dictator's exile dies following cancer battle
- Sarah Kyolaba, who worked in Tottenham, has died at a hospital in London
- She was first spotted by Idi Amin while performing as a dancer aged 19
- She followed the dictator into exile in Saudi Arabia in 1982 before moving to the UK
By Julian Robinson for MailOnline
Published: 05:12 GMT, 16 June 2015 | Updated: 09:29 GMT, 16 June 2015
Idi Amin's widow who lived a life of obscurity running a North London hair salon for 30 years after the dictator's exile has died following a battle with cancer.
Sarah Kyolaba was the last surviving wife of the former Ugandan leader before she died last week at London's Royal Free Hospital, it has been reported.
The 59-year-old arrived in Britain more than three decades ago - having followed her husband into exile in Saudi Arabia - and later worked at a salon in Tottenham.
Idi Amin's widow Sarah Kyolaba (pictured) was the last surviving wife of the former Ugandan leader before she died last week at London's Royal Free Hospital
Sarah Kyolaba married the dictator after he spotted her performing at the age of 19. They are pictured on their wedding day in 1975
Mrs Amin was once known as 'Suicide Sarah' because she was a go-go dancer for the Ugandan army's Revolutionary Suicide Mechanised Regiment Band.
She married the dictator after he spotted her performing at the age of 19. The pair were later married in a lavish £2million ceremony in the country's capital Kampala. She was said to be his 'favourite wife' and went by the title Lady Sarah Kyolaba Idi Amin.
Friends have paid tribute to her 'honesty and her humility' while others remembered how she enjoyed visiting her local bar in Seven Sisters, the Independent reports.
President Amin, who reportedly fathered 43 children, was forced from Uganda in 1979, fled to Libya, then Iraq and finally Saudi Arabia, where he was allowed to settle provided he stayed out of politics.
Mrs Amin was once known as 'Suicide Sarah' because she was a go-go dancer for the Ugandan army's Revolutionary Suicide Mechanised Regiment Band
The pair were married in a lavish £2million ceremony in the country's capital Kampala. They are pictured here in 1978
The 59-year-old arrived in Britain more than three decades ago - having followed her husband into exile in Saudi Arabia - and later worked at a salon in Tottenham
A one-time heavyweight boxing champion and soldier in the British colonial army, Amin seized power on January 25, 1971, overthrowing President Milton Obote while Obote was abroad.
Human rights groups say hundreds of thousands of people were killed during Amin's 1971-1979 rule over Uganda.
He died from kidney failure in 2003.
In an interview after his death, his widow, who worked as a lingerie model in Germany before moving to Britain with the third of her four children, said the dictator was a 'true African hero', the Independent reports.
She is quoted as saying at the time: 'He was just a normal person, not a monster. He was a jolly person, very entertaining and kind.
'I learned a lot of things from him, not because I was married to him but as a growing woman… things like leadership, self-confidence and initiative.'
The Independent reports that she described herself as the 'former First Lady of Uganda' on her Facebook page, which featured a picture of her sitting beside the dictator.
She worked as a lingerie model in Germany (left) before moving to Britain with the third of her four children. The pair are pictured together on their wedding day (right)
In an interview after his death she said the dictator was a 'true African hero' and 'not a monster' (their wedding in August 1975, pictured)
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