Princess Tsehai Haile Selassie (13 October 1919 – 17 August 1942) was the third daughter and fourth child 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 Empress Menen Asfaw of

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

Biography

Princess Tsehai was born in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

. She often accompanied the Emperor to public events during his exile in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

(1936–1941), where she trained as a nurse at

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 ...

's Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children. She graduated as a state registered children's nurse on 25 August 1939. After the restoration of her father in 1941, she married Lieutenant-General (later Brigadier-General) '' Lij'' Abiye Abebe, and moved with him to Welega Province when he was appointed governor there. She later worked at Dessie Hospital in

. Princess Tsehai died in Nekemte on 17 August 1942, from complications during childbirth. Her baby did not survive. She was buried in the crypt of the Ba'eta Le Mariam Monastery in Addis Ababa that had been built as the mausoleum church of Emperor

Menelik II Menelik II ( ; horse name Aba Dagnew (Amharic: አባ ዳኘው ''abba daññäw''); 17 August 1844 – 12 December 1913), baptised as Sahle Maryam (ሣህለ ማርያም ''sahlä maryam'') was king of Shewa from 1866 to 1889 and Emperor of Et ...

. Emperor Haile Selassie founded the Princess Tsehai Memorial Hospital in her memory, which also served as a nursing school and which project was initially launched by Sylvia Pankhurst. After the 1974 revolution, the hospital was renamed the Armed Forces General Hospital.

Patronages

* Honorary President of the Association for the Benefit of Ethiopian Women (1935–1942).

Honours

National honours

* Knight Grand Cordon with Collar of the Order of the Queen of Sheba (1930). * Imperial Coronation Medal (1930). Waizero Manen

Ancestry

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsehai, Princess Deaths in childbirth 1919 births 1942 deaths 20th-century Ethiopian people 20th-century Ethiopian women Ethiopian princesses Ethiopian nurses Children of Haile Selassie Daughters of emperors Ethiopian expatriates in the United Kingdom Recipients of orders, decorations, and medals of Ethiopia