To get a feel for how a modern Ashanti ruler lives, visit Manhyia Palace and its museum off Antoa Rd, up the hill north from Kejetia Circle. The palace was built by the British in 1925 to receive Prempeh I when he returned from a quarter of a century of exile in the Seychelles to resume residence in Kumasi. It was used by the Ashanti kings until 1974.

On display is the original furniture, including Ashantiland's first TV, and various artefacts from the royals, including evocative photos of the time.More striking are the unnervingly lifelike, life-size wax models of the two kings and their mothers and of the most redoubtable queen mother, Yaa Asantewaa, who led the 1900 revolt against the British and who died in exile in the Seychelles.