In 1868, a young prince had been captured by the British in Ethiopia. Buckingham Palace has just rejected a request from his descendants to return his body.
- Prince Alemayehu was captured aged 7 in Ethiopia.
- His body rests in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
- Buckingham Palace refuses to return his body to his descendants.
In 1862, the Emperor of Ethiopia had caused a conflict by taking the British consul hostage. At the end of the battle won by the British, Emperor Tewodros had decided to suicide rather than surrender while Empress Tiruwork had been captured with her son, Prince Alemayehu, 7 years old. But during the trip, the latter had died, leaving his orphan son.
In June 1868, the young boy had arrived in the United Kingdom, where Queen Victoria had affection for him. She had thus decided to take charge of his education. Unfortunately, a pneumonia caused the death of 18-year-old Prince Alemayehu in Leeds. A news that had saddened Queen Victoria who had written in His diary : “His life was not happy, full of difficulties of all kinds, and he was so sensitive, thinking that people were staring at him because of his color.“.
Prince Alemayehu rests in the Saint-Georges Chapel
After the death of Prince Alemayehu, Queen Victoria had wished to see him buried in the royal crypt of St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. Since then, Ethiopia has repeatedly requested the repatriation of his body. While a new request has just been rejected, one of his descendants, Fasil Minas, told the BBC : “We want his remains back, as a family and as Ethiopians, because this is not the country where he was born.“.
For its part, Buckingham Palace indicated that it was too complicated to accede to the request of his descendants. “It is highly unlikely that it will be possible to exhume the remains without disturbing the resting place of large numbers of other people nearby“said a spokesperson at the BBC specifying that it was necessarypreserve the dignity of the deceased“. So the prince should stay in england.