Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene, has officially announced the passing of the Asantehemaa, Nana Konadu Yiadom III.
The announcement was made on August 11, 2025, during a meeting of the Asanteman Council, where the king informed chiefs and elders of the queen’s death.
Nana Konadu Yiadom III was also the Asantehene’s biological sister.
In an official communication, Manhyia Palace stated:
“The Manhyia Palace deeply regrets to announce the peaceful passing of Her Royal Majesty Nana Konadu Yiadom III, the revered Asantehemaa (Queen) of the Ashanti Kingdom. Her Majesty’s life was a pillar of wisdom, grace, and dedication to the traditions and welfare of Asanteman.”
Following the announcement, the chiefs extended their condolences to Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.
In line with Asante tradition, a one-week traditional rite will be observed at the Manhyia Palace on Thursday, August 21, 2025.
About Nana Konadu Yiadom III
She was born in 1927 at Benyaade Shrine at Merdan, a small town located at Kwadaso, Kumasi, in the days of the restoration of the Asante Confederacy.
She was born to Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem II, Asantehemaa, who reigned from 1977 to 2016. Her father was known as Opanin Kofi Fofie, known popularly as Koofie or Keewuo, a carpenter by profession from Besease near Atimatim in Kumasi.
At a very tender age, just when she was a little over a year old and being breastfed, Nana Konadu Yiadom III, Asantehemaa, was separated from her biological mother and given to her aunt (mother’s sister), Nana Afia Konadu, at Ashanti New Town (Ash-Town), a suburb of Kumasi.
Nanahemaa never had any formal education, but she underwent a rigorous and quality informal education, learning a lot of things which were not taught in the classroom.
She was initiated and underwent puberty rites together with her niece, Nana Abena Ansa, in their early teens. She married Opanin Kwame Boateng, a blacksmith by profession from Aduman in Kumasi.
She is religious, kind-hearted, calm, fair and firm, hard-working, very humble, unassuming and accommodating. In the mid-1990s, Kwaku Firi Bosomfo, the priest of Kwaku Firi, prophesied through Baffour Akoto, a senior linguist of Asantehene, that Nanahemaa would be queen of Asante someday, and surely, it came to pass.
Nanahemaa has achieved a lot and has been recognised as such. Through her constant generosity in doing God’s work, the Saviour Church named a school after her, Nana Konadu Saviour School.
She has exhibited a high level of equity, justice and fairness, and all cases brought before her have been settled amicably to the satisfaction of both parties involved. In celebrating her 5th Anniversary as Asantehemaa, she made a huge donation to the mothers at the Mother-Baby Unit (MBU), Paediatric Emergency Care Unit (PICU) and Paediatric Emergency Unit (PEU) and paid for all the medical bills and expenses for new mothers at the Mother-Baby Unit (MBU) at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and Manhyia Government District Hospital.
Nanahemaa started a vigorous campaign and instituted an annual event to encourage mothers to breastfeed their young ones.
