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Roots -

Alemayehu Simyen Tewodoros, better known as Prince Alemayehu, was born on April 23, 1861, in Magdala, Ethiopian Empire.

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Roots -

Prince Alemayehu’s military title was Dejazmach, and he was a member of the Solomonic Dynasty.

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Mother -

Prince Alemayehu’s mother was Tiruwork Wube, also known as Queen Terunesh. She was Empress Consort of Ethiopia.

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Father -

Prince Alemayehu was the son of Emperor Tewodros II, who ruled from 1855 until 1868.

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Conflict -

In 1862, Tewodros II wrote to Queen Victoria with the intent of making an alliance. His letters went unanswered, so the emperor held some Europeans hostage (pictured), including the British Consul.

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The emperor is defeated during the British Expedition to Abyssinia -

The Brits sent 13,000 British and Indian troops to rescue them, in what became known as the British Expedition to Abyssinia. Emperor Tewodros II then took his own life after being defeated by the British in 1868.

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Plunder -

After the defeat, the British plundered numerous treasures, including cultural and religious artifacts.

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The prince and his mother -

The empress and her young son, Prince Alemayehu, were then captured by the British forces and taken to England.

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The empress didn't make it to the coast -

The prince’s mother died on the journey to the coast. She was buried at Sheleqot Monastery in the Tigrai province of Ethiopia.

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The prince’s carer -

Prince Alemayehu, however, did make it to the boat. He was taken under the care of a man named Captain Tristram Speedy.

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Captain Tristram Speedy -

Captain Tristram Speedy was an English explorer and adventurer. He joined several expeditions and served as an army officer during the Victorian era.

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New home -

Prince Alemayehu’s new home was Captain Tristram Speedy’s house on the Isle of Wight. He went on to move to India with Speedy and his wife for a few years, and then returned to England to study.

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Introduction to Queen Victoria -

Not long after he arrived in the country, Prince Alemayehu met Queen Victoria at Osborne House. The Queen took an interest in the seven-year-old orphan and decided that the prince should have a formal education.

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Education -

The prince was first placed in Lockers Park School and then sent to Cheltenham College, where he was educated under the care of Principal Thomas Jex-Blake.

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Education -

In 1875, Prince Alemayehu was sent to Rugby School, and three years later he joined the officers' training school at Royal Military College in Sandhurst.

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Education -

Prince Alemayehu eventually ended up being privately tutored by Cyril Ransome (father of famed author Arthur Ransome) at home in Leeds.

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Illness and death -

Tragically, in 1879, the prince contracted a severe pulmonary illness (possibly pleurisy or pneumonia) and died six weeks later. He was 18.

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Queen Victoria mourned his death -

Queen Victoria wrote about the young prince's death in her personal diary. Her words were as follows: "Very grieved and shocked to hear by telegram, that good Alemayehu had passed away this morning. It is too sad! All alone, in a strange country, without a single person or relative, belonging to him."

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Queen Victoria mourned his death -

"His was no happy life, full of difficulties of every kind, and was so sensitive, thinking that people stared at him on account of his color... Everyone is very sorry," Queen Victoria added.

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Burial -

The Queen then arranged for Prince Alemayehu’s body to be buried in the catacombs of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

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Funeral -

The funeral took place on November 21, 1879. A commemorative plaque can be found in the nave of St George's Chapel that reads "I was a stranger and ye took me in."

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Ethiopian request for the return of Prince Alemayehu's remains -

In 2007, the Ethiopian government requested Buckingham Palace return pPince Alemayehu's body for reburial in Ethiopia.

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The request to repatriate the prince’s body was refused -

A Buckingham Palace statement to the BBC from May 2023 reads: “The Dean and Canons of Windsor are very sensitive to the need to honor the memory of Prince Alemayehu. However, they have been advised that it is very unlikely that it would be possible to exhume the remains without disturbing the resting place of a substantial number of others in the vicinity.”

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The request to repatriate the prince’s body was refused -

“Conscious of the responsibility to preserve the dignity of the departed it is therefore, with regret, not possible to agree to the request, but in recent years we have accommodated requests from Ethiopian delegations to visit St Georges and will continue to do so."

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Ethiopia and his family want him back -

"We want him back. We don't want him to remain in a foreign country. He had a sad life. When I think of him I cry. If they agree to return his remains I would think of it as if he came home alive," shared Ethiopian royal descendant Abebech Kasa with the BBC.

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Ethiopia and his family want him back -

"We want his remains back as a family and as Ethiopians because that is not the country he was born in. It was not right for him to be buried in the UK,” said royal descendant Fasil Minas.

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British-Ethiopian relations -

"Restitution is used as a way to bring reconciliation, to recognize what was wrong in the past," and complying with the request would be "a way for Britain to rethink its past. It's a reflection and coming to terms with an imperial past," explained professor Alula Pankhurst, specialist in British-Ethiopian relations, to the BBC.

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An emotional story -

"Emotionally, most people who get to know Alemayehu’s story feel his remains should be returned. He made it so clear before he died that he wanted to go back,” Andrew Heavens, author of ‘The Prince and the Plunder,’ told NBC News.

Sources: (BBC) (People) (NBC News) (Reuters) (allaboutETHIO) 

See also: Famous individuals who were exhumed from their graves

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