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The Current Role of the Monarchy in Preserving Ethiopia’s Unity
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Crown Prince Zera Yacob Amha Selassie, (Ge'ez ዘርአ ያዕቆብ አምሃ ሥላሴ; born 17
August 1951) 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.
He attended Eton College and graduated from Exeter College, Oxford. 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 work briefly 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 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.
Source: Ethiopians for Constitutional Monarchy ~ Emperor of Ethiopia
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