Zera Yacob Amha Selassie


Zera Yacob Amha Selassie, Crown Prince of Ethiopia is the grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie and son of Amha Selassie of Ethiopia. He has been head of the Imperial House of Ethiopia since 17 February 1997 as recognized by the Crown Council of Ethiopia.
He was designated as "acting crown prince" and heir presumptive in 1974 by the Emperor Haile Selassie I close to the end of his reign.

Biography

Zera Yacob attended Eton College and graduated from Exeter College, Oxford and Sandhurst. 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 stroke a year earlier.
After the fall of the Ethiopian monarchy, Zera Yacob completed his studies at Oxford in the 1970s and worked briefly as a banker in the United States. He then moved to London and was married to Princess Nunu, and subsequently divorced. The marriage produced a daughter, Princess Lideta. In 1992 he accompanied his father Amha Selassie to Virginia, United States, where his father had a medical check-up. However, when his father suffered a stroke and Zera Yacob stayed for two years. When he then applied for a visa following his father's death in 1997 this was used as the reason to deny it him. He had returned to London, England, where he had settled in a modest dwelling on the Isle of Dogs.
He had previously been named heir apparent by his father, who assumed the title of Emperor-in-Exile at that time in April 1989 in London.
Crown Prince Zera Yacob is regarded as head of the Imperial Family of Ethiopia and currently lives in Addis Ababa.

Patronages

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 to the people of Ethiopia.

Honours

National dynastic honours

Patrilineal descent

  1. Degna Djan
  2. Dil Na'od
  3. Mkhbara Widam
  4. Agba Seyun
  5. Sinfa Ar'ad
  6. Negus Zaré
  7. Asfiha
  8. Yakob
  9. Bahr Seggad
  10. Adam Asgad
  11. Tasfa Iyasus
  12. Yekuno Amlak, 12??–1285
  13. Prince Qidma Seggada
  14. Amda Seyon I
  15. Newaya Krestos
  16. Dawit I
  17. Zara Yaqob, 1399–1468
  18. Baeda Maryam I, 1448-1478
  19. Na'od, 14??–1508
  20. Dawit II, c. 1496–1540
  21. Prince Segwa Qal
  22. Warada Qal
  23. Lesba Qal
  24. Negasi Krestos
  25. Sebestyanos
  26. Kidane Kale
  27. Amha Iyasus
  28. Asfaw Wossen
  29. Wossen Seged
  30. Sahle Selassie, 1795–1847
  31. Makonnen Wolde Mikael, 1852–1906
  32. Haile Selassie, 1892–1975
  33. Amha Selassie, 1916–1997
  34. Zera Yacob Amha Selassie, b. 1953