{{Short description|First visitor to Britain from Palau}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox person | name = Prince Lee Boo | image = Prince Lee Boo.jpg | caption = by Henry Kingsbury, after Georgiana Jane Henderson (née Keate) | birth_date = c. 1764 | birth_place = Koror, Pelew Islands (now Palau) | death_date = {{death date and age|1784|12|27|1764|df=yes}} | death_place = London, England | field = | notable_works = | known_for = Visiting Great Britain in the 18th century | education = European school in London | spouse = | awards = | module = }} thumb|Monument to Prince Lee Boo, St Mary's Church, Rotherhithe '''Prince Lee Boo''' or '''Lebu'''<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Parmentier |first=Richard J. |date=2002-01-01 |title=Money Walks, People Talk |url=https://journals.openedition.org/lhomme/156 |journal=L'Homme. Revue française d'anthropologie |language=en |issue=162 |pages=49–80 |doi=10.4000/lhomme.156 |issn=0439-4216|doi-access=free }}</ref> (c. 1764 – 27 December 1784) was the second son of Abba Thulle (Ibedul), the ruler of Koror in the Pelew Islands, now called Palau.<ref>{{cite web|title=Prince Lee Boo, second son of Abba Thule [picture]|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135972940/view|publisher=National Library of Australia|access-date=24 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| title = Prince Lee Boo : London Remembers, Aiming to capture all memorials in London| access-date = 2014-03-27| url = http://www.londonremembers.com/subjects/prince-lee-boo?memorial_id=3919}}</ref> He was one of the first people from the Pacific Islands to visit Great Britain. When the China trader ''Antelope'', on a voyage to China for the East India Company, was wrecked on the island of Oroolong in Western Palau in 1783, its survivors, including Captain Henry Wilson, spent three months on Palau. When the survivors were finally rescued, Wilson agreed to take Lee Boo to London to acquire more knowledge about Europe.
He arrived about a decade after the Tahitian Omai, on 14 July 1784, in Portsmouth, aboard the ''Morse'',<ref>{{cite book|title=The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia, Volume 1|date=2000|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-824-82265-1|page=161|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5pPpJl8E5wC&q=prince+lee+boo+born+1764&pg=PA161}}</ref> and was quickly dubbed "The Black Prince" by London society, who were charmed by his poise and intelligence. The Wilson family took him into their home in London, where he attended church ceremonies, dinner parties and European school for several months. However, he died of smallpox on 27 December 1784,<ref name="Quanchi">{{cite book | last = Quanchi | first = Max| year = 2005 | title = Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Pacific Islands | url = https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio00quan | url-access = limited | publisher = The Scarecrow Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio00quan/page/n164 94]| isbn = 0810853957}}</ref> some six months after his arrival in London. He was 20 years old.<ref>{{Cite web|date=|title=Prince Lee Boo |url= https://www.londonremembers.com/subjects/prince-lee-boo?memorial_id=3919 |access-date=3 June 2025|website=London Remembers}}</ref>
He was buried at St Mary's Church, Rotherhithe.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Prince Lee Boo's tomb : London Remembers, Aiming to capture all memorials in London |access-date=2014-03-27 |url=http://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/prince-lee-boo-s-tomb}}</ref> His tomb is Grade II listed and inscribed with the words "Stop, reader, stop, let Nature shed a tear / A prince of mine, Lee Boo, lies buried here".<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1385868|desc=Monument to Prince Lee Boo approx 10m West of West tower, Church of St Mary|access-date=22 April 2025}}</ref>
Prince Lee Boo's story appeared in a book by George Keate, titled: ''An Account of the Pelew Islands, Situated in the Western Part of the Pacific Ocean. Composed from the Journals and Communications of Captain Henry Wilson, and some of his Officers, who, in August 1783, were there Shipwrecked, in the Antelope, a Packet belonging to the Hon. East India Company.''<ref name="wdltheinterestingstory">{{Cite book| last = Keate| first = George| title = The Interesting History of Prince Lee Boo, Brought to England from the Pelew Islands| publisher = Library of Congress| access-date = 2022-02-16| url = https://www.loc.gov/item/78009673}}</ref> The author's daughter, Georgiana Jane Keate (later Georgiana Henderson), painted the portrait of Prince Lee Boo in the book. It was painted from memory, fifteen months after Prince Lee Boo's death.<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Keate, George}}</ref> The book was popular, and was translated into over 20 languages between 1789 and 1850.<ref name = "wdltheinterestingstory" /> An abridged version, titled ''The Interesting History of Prince Lee Boo, Brought to England from the Pelew Islands'', is available online.<ref name="wdltheinterestingstory" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * ''The Interesting History of Prince Lee Boo, Brought to England from the Pelew Islands'' at Wikimedia Commons
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee Boo}} Category:1760s births Category:1784 deaths Category:18th-century Palauan people Category:Deaths from smallpox in England Category:Expatriates in England Category:History of London Category:Palauan expatriates Category:People from Koror Category:People from Rotherhithe