Princess Eugene Majuru has issued a public statement describing the film The Woman King as a powerful reminder of Africa’s pre-colonial systems of governance and the historic role women played in shaping them.
In remarks released this week, Majuru said the film highlights “Africa’s indigenous systems of leadership, particularly the central role of women in governance, military command, and nation-building prior to colonisation.”
Inspired by the Agojie warriors of the Kingdom of Dahomey, an elite all-female military regiment that existed in present-day Benin, The Woman King portrays women who defended their kingdom against slavery, foreign exploitation and internal conflict. For Majuru, the story carries contemporary weight.
“Their story challenges the false colonial narrative that African leadership was exclusively male or primitive,” she said.
Majuru, who identifies herself as a descendant of the Harare royal lineage of the Mbari clan founded by King Mbari, framed women’s leadership not as a modern development but as a continuation of historical tradition. “Women’s leadership is not a modern invention,” she said. “It is an African inheritance.”
Her statement also addressed the long-term consequences of colonial rule on traditional governance structures across the continent. Colonial administrations, she said, disrupted legitimate systems of authority by elevating collaborators and imposing new chieftainships, often at the expense of established royal houses.
“Colonialism disrupted legitimate African governance by rewarding collaborators with imposed chieftainships, sidelining rightful royal houses, and distorting systems of authority,” Majuru said, adding that the effects of those interventions “continue to affect African societies today.”
She argued that decolonization is incomplete without a fuller restoration of historical narratives and recognition of traditional leadership structures, including the roles women played as rulers and strategists.
“Decolonisation remains incomplete until African people reclaim historical truth, restore legitimate leadership, and recognise the role of women as rulers, strategists, and custodians of sovereignty,” she said.
Majuru described The Woman King as more than a cinematic achievement. “The film is not entertainment alone,” she said. “It is education, correction, and a call to action.”
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