Amha Selassie

Biography Asfaw Wossen Tafari was born in the walled city of Harar, to Dejazmach Tafari Makonnen, then the governor of Harar and future Emperor of Ethiopia, and his wife Menen Asfaw, on 29 July 1916. Although it was alleged that the Crown Prince had acted under duress, his outlook had long been regarded as considerably more liberal than that of his father, and so he would always be suspected of having been a willing participant in the coup attempt. By contrast, Medferiashwork Abebe, the wife of the Crown Prince, is credited with playing a role against the coup attempt. In 1974 the Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen said that he "undoubtedly not only knew about the revolution ahead of time, he was also part of the people who had organized it."

At the age of 58 in late 1972, after his father Emperor Haile Selassie blamed him for hiding the realities of the famine in the region which he presided over as Duke (Wollo) from him, Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen suffered a massive stroke and was evacuated for medical treatment to London He was accompanied by his wife and daughters. The stroke left him permanently paralyzed on one side and unable to walk, and also affected his speech. As Prince Asfaw Wossen was not expected to live, his son, Prince Zera Yacob, a student at Oxford at the time, was named "Acting Crown Prince" and "Heir Presumptive".

Short reign The so-called "short reign" of Amha Selassie in 1974 was in name only between the dethronement of his father on 12 September 1974 until the abolition of the monarchy in March 1975. He had never completely recovered from the stroke he had experienced in 1972. After this, arrangements were made for Amha Selassie's body which was flown back to Ethiopia and buried in the Imperial family vaults at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa in a large ceremonial funeral presided over by Patriarch Abune Paulos.

Honorary military ranks Amha Selassie held the following military ranks:

Field Marshal, Imperial Ethiopian Army Admiral of the Fleet, Imperial Ethiopian Navy Marshal, Imperial Ethiopian Air Force

Ancestry