Zera Yacob Amha Selassie
Grandson of Haile Selassie, head of Ethiopia's Imperial House.
Zera Yacob Amha Selassie, born on 17 August 1953, is the son of Amha Selassie and the grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie. He has led the Imperial House of Ethiopia since 17 February 1997, a position acknowledged by the Crown Council of Ethiopia. In 1974, near the end of his grandfather’s rule, he was named acting crown prince and heir presumptive. However, the monarchy was toppled that same year by the Ethiopian Revolution, and he never became emperor.
Quick Facts
- Reign
- 17 February 1997 – present
- Reign type
- Tenure
- Predecessor
- Haile Selassie
- as Emperor of Ethiopia
- Amha Selassie
- as Emperor-in-exile of Ethiopia
- Successor
- Prince Mikael, Duke of Harar
- Suc type
- Heir-Presumptive
- Spouse
- Nunu Getaneh (divorced)
- Issue
- 1
- House
- House of Solomon
Facts from the source article.
Biography
Zera Yacob attended Eton College and graduated from Exeter College, Oxford and Sandhurst. In 1974 his grandfather, Emperor Haile Selassie, named him Acting Crown Prince and heir presumptive after his father suffered a stroke a year earlier. Following the monarchy's fall, he completed his Oxford studies in the 1970s and worked briefly as a banker in the United States. He then moved to London, married Princess Nunu (née Getaneh), and later divorced; they had one daughter, Princess Lideta Zera Yacob. His father, who had assumed the title of Emperor-in-exile in April 1989 in London, named him heir apparent. In 1992 he accompanied his father to Virginia for a medical check-up; his father suffered a stroke, and Zera Yacob stayed for two years. After his father's death in 1997, he applied for a visa and returned to London, settling on the Isle of Dogs. He has been Executive Director of the Ethiopian Peace Foundation since 2002.
More in Haile Selassie
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced