Asnat, Lady Safi, the handmaiden of King Atehene of the lost “African” tribe in the Scottish woodlands, has been identified as Kaura Taylor of Texas, who was reported missing by her family in the United States.
The Kingdom of Kubala claims to have settled in a forest in Jedburgh with the objective of regaining land lost from their forefathers in the Highlands 400 years ago. The group is made up of group leader King Atehene, 36, a former opera singer who went by Kofi Offeh, his wife Queen Nandi, and Taylor.
According to SWNS, Taylor said in a video message from the camp, “To the UK authorities, obviously I am not missing. Leave me alone. I’m an adult, not a helpless child.”
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In a recent interview with The Independent, Taylor’s family expressed their concern about her decision to lead an unorthodox life, where she allegedly waits hand and foot on Queen Nandi as her handmaiden.
“It is very stressful, and difficult. It breaks our heart. We’re overly concerned about Kaura, but she doesn’t think anyone is concerned about her,” said Taylor’s aunt, Teri Allen.
Before Taylor’s video message to UK authorities, she wrote, “I’m very happy with my King and Queen, I was never missing, I fled a very abusive, toxic family.”
Allen, on August 21, strongly denied those claims, describing her niece’s childhood as “very sheltered and protected.”
Taylor, according to her, was raised in church, “Not this thing that they got going. It’s a bunch of hogwash.”
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According to Allen, Taylor kept it “completely hidden from the family” when she began interacting with the so-called Kingdom of Kubala head King Atehene and his wife Jean Gasho in 2023. Allen believes Taylor came across the group online through a high school mate.
Allen said that Taylor then abruptly stopped spending time with her loved ones, stopped going to family events, and stopped celebrating holidays altogether.
Taylor lived with Allen’s sister, her aunt Vandora Skinner, at the time. Skinner told The Independent that Taylor went missing in May. “But she wasn’t missing at all, she left to go live with these people.”
Taylor, who lived with Skinner during her teen years, was described by Skinner as a “very very unruly” teen who was sometimes “very disrespectful,” although she was always given a lot of freedom at home.
“She lived in a four-bedroom house, with her own room, and maybe I shouldn’t have been as light on her as I was,” Skinner said. “I allowed her boyfriends to come over, but maybe I shouldn’t have. But I did get her to graduate high school. ”
According to Skinner, Taylor attempted to persuade her ex-boyfriend to move with her to the Scottish forest, but he was put off by King Atehene and Queen Nandi’s “ungodly rituals” and chose not to. After that, the 21-year-old broke up with him and left for Scotland in May with her kid, who was eight months old at the time, and whose father was no longer involved.
Skinner said Taylor texted her two days later, saying, “We had to get out and explore a little bit.” She did not respond when Skinner asked where she was.
“She said she would have to call me when she got connected to wifi, but then I never heard from her again,” Skinner recalled.
However, Skinner received daily communication from Taylor’s best friend. As the friend began to ask about Taylor, Skinner said that she was worried that something wasn’t quite right.
The friend informed Skinner that Taylor had mentioned going to live with “these people,” but that she knew nothing else.
“And I said, ‘What people?’ And they said they didn’t know, so I started to call around,” Skinner added. “I called her ex-boyfriend and that’s when he told me about the [Kingdom’s] Facebook page and that she said she was going to the U.K. I looked up the Facebook page and sure enough, there she was.”
Skinner immediately alerted Allen, who in turn informed Taylor’s mother, their other sister.
“She thought it was photoshopped, but it turned out to be true,” Skinner said.
After, Skinner started looking through Facebook for further details and discovered that Atehene and Nandi had previously arranged an almost identical living arrangement with another young American woman.
Skinner added that seeing Taylor in a social media video claiming that she was King Atehene’s second wife even though she wasn’t his legal spouse was what really infuriated her.
“Now she’s talking about, she’s married to this man and he can have as many wives as he wants?” Skinner remarked.
A Jedburgh resident advised Skinner to contact Scottish police and gave her a phone number, so she reported Taylor and her daughter, who turned one year old in June, as missing.
According to reports, Taylor arrived in the United Kingdom on May 25 on a six-month tourist visa. Her stay is expected to conclude in November, at which point her aunts anticipate that she will be compelled to depart the nation and return to Texas.
Nevertheless, according to SWNS, the Kingdom of Kubala has received eviction notices and had its tents set on fire. Although the tribe claims to lead a simple life, living in tents, washing in a nearby stream, and interacting with nature, their presence has alarmed other residents.
They stated that they only acknowledge the rules of their God, Yahowah, and that they “don’t recognize local laws,” despite the fact that they have been attacked by people who don’t comprehend their customs.
Their ruler, King Atehene, even claimed to be a descendant of the Messiah. His wife, 43-year-old Queen Nandi, was born Jean Gasho and is the mother of seven.
“We live a very simple life of returning to innocence,” King Atehene told SWNS. “We connect to nature. We connect to the trees around us. We get grounded every morning. We bathe in the springwater. We are living a simple life of relying daily on the creator for food, shelter and clothing. We live in a tent without walls, but we are not afraid of anyone, for we have the protection of the creator, Yahowah.”
He continued, “Many people do not have the eyes to see and the ears to hear. They see things and they judge without understanding. This includes the government of Great Britain, who say that culture and religion is tolerant in Great Britain, but the Kingdom of Kubala has suffered trials and tribulations at the hands of authorities, who do not understand or tolerate. But the Kingdom of Kubala cannot be destroyed, for we are helped by the creator of the heavens and the earth, our God. Until then, no one will be able to destroy the Kingdom of Kubala.”
They claim to be a lost tribe of Hebrews, with a King descended from David the Messiah, and that their ancestors were exiled when Elizabeth I deported native black Jacobites.
The group claimed to live a humble life and hoped to fulfill a prophecy by establishing their kingdom and bringing other “lost tribes” back into the fold.
King Atehene called it a “pilgrimage journey.”
King Atehene claimed, “the prophecy said, ‘after 400 years, when my ancestors are destroyed from the land of Scotland, from the land of Great Britain, they will go into captivity and lose their identity.’But after 400 years, I will come and bring them back to the land of promise. I am following the ancestral call and the call of the gods. The calling from our creator to embark on this journey, is the most important thing in our life. It is a journey of hope – a pilgrimage.”
Meanwhile, the Scottish Borders Council stated that it has been “working with Police Scotland” to manage the ongoing situation.
“This has included the provision of advice and information about housing options and other support services,” a spokesperson said.
