This article originally appeared in the March/April issue of ESSENCE magazine, available on newsstands now.
During the summer of 1988, in the seemed-like-it-could-have-been-real fictional land of Zamunda, Africa, a charming prince named Akeem Joffer took his 21st spin around the sun and began to ponder the world outside of his royal confines. Those feelings intensified when he met his queen-to-be, who just wasn’t the right fit. Unlike his parents, he wasn’t down for an arranged marriage, no matter how beautiful the bride or lavish the ceremony. (Trust, that wedding would have been everything, but fate had other plans.)