Haile Selassie of Ethiopia
Haile Selassie (The Holy Trinity or Power of Trinity) (July 23, 1892 - August 27, 1975) was the last Emperor (1930 - 1936; 1941 - 1974) of Ethiopia.
Selassie was born in the town-village of Ejersa Goro, Ethiopia, as Tafari Makonnen to father Ras Makonnen, the governor of Harar and to mother Wezero (lady) Yeshimebet Ali. He didn't remember his mother, who died on March 14, 1894.
In September 1916, an assembly of nobles with the agreement of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church deposed Emperor Lij Iyasu (Iyasu V), the grandson and heir of Emperor Menelik II, for suspected conversion to Islam. In his place they crowned Menelik's daughter Zewditu as Empress of Ethiopia and her cousin Ras (Duke) Tafari as Crown Prince and Regent. As Ras Tafari (Amharic Fearsome), he ruled Ethiopia as regent and crown prince (1916 - 1928) for his cousin the empress Zauditu, and as king (negus) (1928 - 1930), assuming the title of Emperor upon Zauditu's death (April 2, 1930). He was crowned emperor November 2, 1930. He was fully titled, His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie I, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of God, King of Kings of Ethiopia.
In 1911 he married Wayzaro Menen Asfaw, daughter of the Jantirar Asfaw of Ambassel and maternally granddaughter of King Mikael of Wolo. Emperor Haile Selassie and Empress Menen were the parents of six children, Princess Tenagnework, Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen, Princess Tsehai, Princess Zenebework, Prince Makonnen Duke of Harar, and Prince Sahle Selassie. Emperor Haile Selassie by a previous marriage, had a daughter, Princess Romanework.
Emperor Haile Selassie developed the policy of careful modernisation initiated by the emperor Menelik II, securing Ethiopia's admission to the League of Nations in 1923 and enacting the country's first constitution in 1931. He also abolished slavery in the Empire in 1923. The League's failure to stop the Second Italo-Ethiopian War--Italy's invasion of Ethiopia in 1935--led to five years in exile, during which he was based at Bath in England.
Returning in 1941 after Italy's defeat in Ethiopia by British and Ethiopian patriot forces, he introduced a revised constitution (November 1955) under which he retained effective power while extending political participation. In 1963 he presided over the establishment of the Organization of African Unity and convinced the new organization to set up its headquarters in Addis Ababa.
Following an abortive coup attempt (December 1960) he pursued more conservative policies, aligning Ethiopia with the West against more radical African governments. His policies contributed to his deposition on September 12, 1974 following a military coup. The media at the time reported that Selassie died in prison on August 27, 1975, officially following a prostate operation; however, it is widely believed by historians that he was strangled and his remains buried beneath the president's personal office. (On November 5th, 2000, the late Emperor was granted a formal funeral.)
By followers of Rastafarianism, a religion which developed in 1930s Jamaica under the influence of Marcus Mosiah Garvey's "Back to Africa" movement, Haile Selassie is regarded as a messiah who will lead peoples of African descent to liberation. Most Rastafarians believe that Selassie is still alive, and that his widely reported death was part of a conspiracy to discredit their religion. The Emperor himself, a devout Christian, was never very enthusiastic to his Rastafarian followers and remained quite indifferent to their beliefs. A state visit to Jamaica in 1966 in which Selassie was greeted by massive screaming crowds was reportedly somewhat unsettling for the monarch.
The Emperor's seat as a Knight of the Garter in St. George's Chapel had the unusual feature of a double-sided banner, one side representing the Emperor of Ethiopia, and the other for the Lion of Judah. He had originally asked for two seats.
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