Zera Yacob Amha Selassie (;

Geʽez Geez ( or ; , and sometimes referred to in scholarly literature as Classical Ethiopic) is an ancient South Semitic language. The language originates from what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea. Today, Geez is used as the main liturgical langu ...

: ዘርዐ ያዕቆብ አምሃ ሥላሴ; born 17 August 1953) is the grandson of Emperor

Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...

and son of Amha Selassie of the

Ethiopian Empire The Ethiopian Empire, historically known as Abyssinia or simply Ethiopia, was a sovereign state that encompassed the present-day territories of Ethiopia and Eritrea. It existed from the establishment of the Solomonic dynasty by Yekuno Amlak a ...

. 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; however, the Empire was overthrown in the 1974 Ethiopian Revolution by the

Derg The Derg or Dergue (, ), officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military junta that ruled Ethiopia, including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when they formally "Civil government, civilianized" the ...

. As a result, Yacob never became a ruling Emperor of Ethiopia. Ethiopia became a Federal Democratic Republic in 1991.

Biography

Zera Yacob attended

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and graduated from Exeter College,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

and Sandhurst. He was named Acting Crown Prince and

heir presumptive An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of a person with a better claim to the position in question. This is in contrast to an heir app ...

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 London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and was married to Princess Nunu (née Getaneh), and later divorced. They had one daughter. He was named

heir apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

by his father, who assumed the title of Emperor-in-exile at that time in April 1989 in London. In 1992 he accompanied his father Amha Selassie to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, United States, where his father had a medical check-up. However, his father suffered a stroke and Zera Yacob stayed for two years. He then applied for a visa following his father's death in 1997. He had returned to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, where he had settled in a modest home on the

Isle of Dogs The Isle of Dogs is a large peninsula bounded on three sides by a large meander in the River Thames in East London, England. It includes the Cubitt Town, Millwall and Canary Wharf districts. The area was historically part of the Manor, Haml ...

. Yacob has been the Executive Director of the Ethiopian Peace Foundation (EPF) since 2002.

Honours

Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem - Grand Cross

Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of Saint Lazarus The Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, also known as the Leper Brothers of Jerusalem or simply as Lazarists, was a Catholic military order founded by Crusaders during the 1130s at a leper hospital in Jerusalem, Kingdom of Jerusalem, whose car ...

( Orléans-French Royal Family) *

Knight Grand Cordon with Collar of the Imperial Order of St. Andrew (

Russian Imperial Family The House of Romanov (also transliterated as Romanoff; , ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after Anastasia Romanovna married Ivan the Terrible, the first crowned tsar of all Russia. Ni ...

) *

Knight Grand Collar of the Order of the Eagle of Georgia ( Georgian Royal Family)Studylib
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Ancestry

References

External links

The Crown Council of Ethiopia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Selassie, Zera Yacob Amha 1953 births Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Zera Yacob Amha Selassie of Ethiopia Zera Yacob, Crown Prince Exiled royalty Zera Yacob Amha Selassie of Ethiopia Living people People from Addis Ababa People educated at Eton College Pretenders to the Ethiopian throne Solomonic dynasty Haile Selassie Recipients of the Order of Saint Lazarus (statuted 1910) Recipients of Order of the Holy Trinity (Ethiopia)