Amha Selassie
Emperor Amha Selassie of Ethiopia (1916 - February 17, 1997) was the exiled claimant of the Ethiopian Imperial Throne (also known as Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen). Born as Asfaw Wossen Taffari, in the walled city of Harrar to Dejazmatch Taffari Makonnen, the then governor of Harrar and future Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie, and his wife Menen Asfaw the future Empress, in August of 1916.
Biography
He became Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen of Ethiopia when his father was crowned Emperor on November 2, 1930. Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen was given the title of "Merid Azmatch" and given the province (former kingdom) of Wollo to rule as his fief. He was married to Princess Wollete Israel Seyoum, great-granddaughter of Emperor Yohannis IV, and had a daughter, Princess Ijigayehu. Following the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1936, the Crown Prince and Princess went into exile with the rest of the Imperial family, but were separated around 1938. They were eventually divorced in 1941.
Following Emperor Haile Selassie's restoration in 1941, the Crown Prince returned to Ethiopia, and participated in the campaign to drive the Italian forces out of the city of Gondar, the last town they held in Ethiopia. He briefly served as acting governor of the provinces of Begemder and Tigray, retaining Wollo the entire time. He was eventually remarried to Princess Medferiaswork Abebe, and would father three more daughters, Princesses Mariam Senna, Sefrash, Sehin, and a son Prince Zera Yacob Amha Selassie.
In December 1960, the Imperial Guard launched a coup and seized power in Ethiopia while the Emperor was on a visit to Brazil. The coup leaders compelled the Crown Prince to read a radio statement, in which he accepted the crown in his father's place and announced a government of reform. However, the regular army and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church both refused to accept the new government, and the leader of the church, Patriarch Abune Baslios, issued an anathema against all those who cooperated with the coup leaders. The Emperor returned to Ethiopia and the Army stormed the palace where members of the government were being held prisoner by the Imperial Guards. The Guards fled, but not before killing many members of the government and the nobility that had been held prisoner in the Green Salon of the palace. Although it was explained that the Crown Prince had acted under duress, his outlook had long been regarded as considerably more liberal than that of his father, and so he would always be suspected of having been a willing participant in the coup attempt.
In 1973, Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen suffered a massive stroke and was evacuated to Switzerland for medical treatment. He was accompanied by his wife and daughters. The stroke left him permanently unable to walk, paralyzed on one side, and affected his speech. As Prince Asfaw Wossen was not expected to live, his son, Prince Zera Yacob Amha Selassie, a student at Cambridge at the time, was named "Acting Crown Prince" and "Heir Presumptive".
Life in Exile
On September 12, 1974, the Marxist Derg military junta deposed Emperor Haile Selassie and declared that Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen would be annointed "King" and a constitutional monarch upon his return from medical treatment in Europe. However, the revolutionaries showed their true colors and soon abolished the monarchy, and Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen became an exile along with his wife and children. In early 1975, the Crown Prince and his family moved from Geneva, Switzerland, to London, where they would live along with several other members of the Imperial family for most of their exile. Many members of the Imperial family remaining in Ethiopia were imprisoned, including his father the Emperor; his daughter by his first marriage, Princess Ijigayehu; his sister Princess Tenagnework; and many of his nephews, neices, relatives and in-laws. In 1975, first his daughter Princess Ijigayehu, and then his father Emperor Haile Selassie died in detention. Members of the Imperial family would remain imprisoned until 1988 (for the women) and 1989 (for the men).
In April 1989, Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen was proclaimed "Emperor of Ethiopia" in exile, at his home in London by members of the exiled Ethiopian community. He took the throne name of Amha Selassie I. His wife began also using the title of "Empress". A year later, the Emperor and Empress in exile moved to the Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C. to be close to the large Ethiopian Immigrant population there.
In 1991, with the fall of the Derg, and the coming to power of the EPRDF in Ethiopia, Amha Selassie founded the Moa Ambassa Monarchist Movement to promote a monarchial restoration in Ethiopia and announced his intention to return to his country for a visit. However, following the disinterment of the remains of Emperor Haile Selassie, a dispute erupted between the Imperial family and the new government over the status of a funeral that was planned for the late Emperor. The government refused to give Haile Selassie a state funeral, and as a result, the funeral, and the return of Amha Selassie was indefinitely postponed.
Amha Selassie died of long time ailments in Virginia, in the United States at age 80 on February 17, 1997. His body was flown back to Ethiopia and buried in the Imperial family vaults at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa in a huge ceremonial funeral presided over by Patriarch Abune Paulos of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
External links
| Preceded by: Emperor Haile Selassie |
Ethiopian Royal Family | Succeeded by: Crown Prince Zera Yacob Amha Selassie |