A bitter royal row has broken out in a Ugandan kingdom after the late king's family rejected the choice of a news anchor to succeed him.

King Oyo Nyimba, who became the world's youngest reigning monarch when he ascended to the Tooro kingdom's throne in 1995 as a three year old, died on August ​27 at the age of 34 in the US, where he was receiving cancer treatment.

On Wednesday, a succession committee for the royal clan announced that Prince ​Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma would take the throne.

The late king's cousin is a news anchor and editor with state broadcaster Uganda broadcasting corporation.

Just hours later, Oyo's sister Princess Ruth Komuntale told a press ​conference that her brother's will stated that his son should succeed him.

It read: "I hereby declare and direct that if, at the date of my death, I am survived by a son lawfully recognised as my biological son, I appoint ‌him as my heir to the Throne of the kingdom of Tooro."

Oyo's mother, Queen Kemigisa, said other clan members had ignored the will and claimed that Uganda's military had placed the family under house arrest.

However, prominent Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda - who is also a relative of the royal family - wrote on X that ⁠Oyo's family had not offered a photo of the son, nor details about the mother.

The late king never married ⁠and was not known to have any children.

The kingdom's prime minister, Calvin Armstrong Rwomiire Akiiki, called for calm on Thursday.

He wrote on X: "There will be time to examine the will, to hear those advancing a different position, ​and to consider our customs, the applicable law and the proper institutions through which succession should be determined.

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"That process should take place calmly and credibly, not through competing announcements, ‌confrontation, or attempts to establish facts on the ​ground while our King still awaits burial."

Uganda's kingdoms were banned by a republican president after the country gained independence from British colonial rule, but they were restored in 1993.

They cannot engage in party politics, but monarchs wield vast social influence.