Zera Yacob Amha Selassie, Crown Prince of Ethiopia

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Zera Yacob Amha Selassie, Crown Prince of Ethiopia bigraphy, stories - Ethiopian crown prince

Zera Yacob Amha Selassie, Crown Prince of Ethiopia : biography

17 August 1953 –

Zera Yacob Amha Selassie, Crown Prince of Ethiopia (Ge’ez ዘርአ ያዕቆብ አምሃ ሥላሴ; born 17 August 1953) is the grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie and son of Emperor-in-Exile Amha Selassie of Ethiopia. He has been Head of the Imperial House of Ethiopia since 17 February 1997 and is currently recognized as such by the Crown Council of Ethiopia. However, there is a rival claimant in the form of Girma Yohannis Iyasu, the great-grandson of uncrowned Iyasu V.

Biography

He attended and graduated from Eton College and Exeter College, Oxford University. He was named "Acting Crown Prince" and Heir Presumptive to the Imperial throne of Ethiopia in 1974 by his grandfather, Emperor Haile Selassie, following his father’s severe stroke a year earlier.

Following the fall of the Ethiopian monarchy, Prince Zera Yacob completed his studies at Oxford in the mid-seventies and went on to briefly work as a banker in the United States. He then returned to London to be closer to his parents. He was married and had a daughter, Princess Lideta Zera Yacob, but was subsequently divorced from his wife. He briefly accompanied his father Emperor Amha Selassie when he moved to Virginia in the US in 1989, but later returned to England and resided for a time in Manchester. He was named Heir Apparent by his father Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen, when the Crown Prince assumed the title of Emperor-in-Exile in April 1989.

Crown Prince Zera Yacob has been regarded as head of the Imperial Family of Ethiopia since the death of his father on 17 February 1997. He is currently living in Addis Ababa.

Charity

Prince Zera Yacob is the sovereign of the Imperial Ethiopian Order of Saint Mary of Zion and bestows awards to individuals for their outstanding service of assistance to the people of Ethiopia.