Kenya (1963–1964) Kenya came into existence on 12 December 1964. Following the abolition of the monarchy, Jomo Kenyatta became the first President of the Republic of Kenya. Kenya (1963–1964) Between 12 December 1963 and 12 December 1964, Kenya was an independent sovereign state that shared its head of state with the United Kingdom and other states headed by Queen Elizabeth II. It was a predecessor to the modern-day Republic of Kenya. When Kenya Colony was given independence from Britain on 12 December 1963, the British monarch (Elizabeth II) remained head of state as Queen of Kenya. The monarch's constitutional roles were mostly
Jomo Kenyatta manners" and a flexible attitude in adapting to urban situations dissimilar to the lands he had grown up in. A. R. Barlow, a member of the Church of Scotland Mission at Kikuyu, met with Kenyatta in Britain, later relating that he was impressed by how Kenyatta could "mix on equal terms with Europeans and to hold his end up in spite of his handicaps, educationally and socially." The South African Peter Abrahams met Kenyatta in London, noting that of all the black men involved in the city's Pan-Africanist movement, he was "the most relaxed, sophisticated and 'westernized' of the lot