While Rhodes’ Cape Colony government had snubbed the Phuti during his stay, he had been warmly welcomed by many others as a model African Christian, while the press not under the Chartered Company’s influence had given him sympathetic coverage.
It was in this context that new impetus was given to the invitation that Khama, along with Bathoen and Sebele, take part in the centenary celebrations of the London Missionary Society (LMS). What might have initially been a perfunctory gesture began to emerge as an audacious opportunity for the three dikgosi to travel to Britain as the Society’s guests of honour.