Prince Ermias Sahle Selassie (born 14 June 1960 in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

) is the only son of

Prince Sahle Selassie Prince Sahle Selassie (27 February 1932 – 24 April 1962) was the youngest child of Emperor Haile Selassie and Empress Menen Asfaw of Ethiopia. His full title was "His Imperial Highness, Prince Sahle Selassie Haile Selassie". Biography Born af ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

and Princess

Mahisente Habte Mariam Princess Mahisente Habte Mariam(born at Nekemte on 9 February 1937) is the widow of Prince Sahle Selassie, youngest son of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. She is the daughter of ''Dejazmach'' Habte Mariam Gebre-Igziabiher, also referred as ...

. He is the grandson of Emperor

Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...

, and furthermore of '' Dejazmach'' Habte Mariam Gebre-Igziabiher, also known as Kumsa Moroda ( Oromo: ''Kumsaa Morodaa'') who was the third and last ''Moti'', or ruler, of the

Welega Welega (also spelled Wollega; ; am, ወለጋ) was a province in western Ethiopia, with its capital city at Nekemte. It was named for the Wollega Oromo, who are the majority of the population within its boundaries. Welega was bordered on the w ...

kingdom also referred as the Leqa Neqamte state. Moroda Bekere. Currently the prince is ninth in the line of succession to the vacant imperial throne.

Education

Prince Ermias was educated in Ethiopia, Great Britain, and the United States. In England, he received his education at Old Ride Preparatory School, and then at

Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to: Australia * Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia **Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia China * Haileybury International School, an international ...

. He obtained a BA degree in the social studies, with an emphasis in economics, from the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

, in Santa Barbara. He continued his education at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy between 1983 and 1985. Prince Ermias is fluent in

Amharic Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Family

Prince Ermias was first married on 9 June 1989 to '' Woizero'' Gelila Fesseha, daughter of '' Afe-Negus'' Fesseha Gabre-Selassie, a former Lord Chief Justice of Ethiopia, and by her is the father of twin sons: * Prince Sahle-Selassie Ermias (known as Christian). Born on 20 February 1992. * Prince Fesseha Zion Ermias (known as Rufael). Born on 20 February 1992. Prince Ermias and his first wife later divorced in July 2004. On 25 February 2011, Prince Ermias married '' Woizero'' Saba Kebede. The Prince and his wife live in the

Washington metropolitan area The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of the states of Maryland, Virgin ...

Royal function

Prince Ermias currently serves as the President of the

Crown Council of Ethiopia The Crown Council of Ethiopia is a community organization and cultural center with the mission of preserving the culture(s) of the former Ethiopian Empire, as well as promoting development and humanitarian efforts. Today, the Crown Council abando ...

in exile. The Crown Council has pursued a mission devoted to the promoting a cultural and humanitarian role. Prince Ermias is also patron of the Haile Selassie Fund for Children in Need which continues to sponsor student scholarships, and the St. George of Lalibela Foundation. On 16 September 2010, Prince Ermias delivered remarks at a briefing entitled " Traditional Leadership in the Modern World: Humanitarianism, Culture and the Diaspora" in the

Rayburn House Office Building The Rayburn House Office Building (RHOB) is a congressional office building for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., between South Capitol Street and First Street. Rayburn is named after forme ...

in Washington, D.C. This briefing was conducted by Representative Diane Watson, who was a member of the

House Foreign Affairs Committee The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives with jurisdiction over bills and investigations concerning the foreign affairs ...

, and whose congressional district in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

includes

Little Ethiopia Little Ethiopia may refer to: * Little Ethiopia, Los Angeles Little Ethiopia is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles. It is known for its collection of Ethiopian restaurants, coffee shops, boutiques and thrift stores. History ...

. Empaneled with visiting royalty from

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

and the

Kingdom of Swaziland Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

(Princess Phindiwe Sangweni), Prince Ermias described the cultural leadership exercised by deposed and exiled royalty among members of ethnic communities living in either ancestral lands or

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Patronages

* Founder of the Imperial Society of Saint George of Lalibela, Washington DC, 1998. * Board Member of Tuition Credit Exchange Inc. * Chairman Advisory Board of Bezant Corporation. * Patron of the Haile Selassie Foundation for Ethiopia’s Children Inc. * Patron for Africa for the Flying Hospital Charity. * Director of the

La Roche College La Roche University is a private university in McCandless, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1963 by the Sisters of Divine Providence as a Roman Catholic college and now sits on an campus in McCandless within the Diocese of Pittsburgh. History ...

(Pittsburgh). * Member of the Board of the

United States National Slavery Museum The United States National Slavery Museum was an unfunded proposal for a museum to commemorate American slavery. Fredericksburg proposal In 2001 a non-profit organization was founded in Fredericksburg, Virginia, to raise funds and campaign to esta ...

. * Honorary Member Advisory Committee of the Angel Foundation. * Member of the Luso-Ethiopian Friendship Association.

Honours

Orders of knighthood

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

Grand Cross Grand Cross is the highest class in many orders, and manifested in its insignia. Exceptionally, the highest class may be referred to as Grand Cordon or equivalent. In other cases, there may exist a rank even higher than Grand Cross, e.g. Grand ...

of the

Royal Order of Francis I The Royal Order of Francis I (properly 'The Royal Order of Francis I of the Two Sicilies' it, Reale Ordine di Francesco I) was an extinct order of merit of the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies which was annexed in 1861 by the King of Italy (u ...

of the

House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies The House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies is a cadet branch of the Spanish royal family, Spanish Bourbons that ruled Southern Italy and Sicily for more than a century in the 18th and 19th centuries. It descends from the Capetian dynasty in legitimate ma ...

. * Knight Grand Collar of the Royal Order of the Drum ( Rwandan Royal Family). * Knight Grand Cordon of the

Royal and Hashemite Order of the Pearl The Royal and Hashemite Order of the Pearl is the dynastic order of the Royal House of Sulu, which serves as the premier institution and the highest personal honour of and in the Royal Sultanate of Sulu. The order is an honourable and nobiliar ...

( Royal House of Sulu).

Awards

* Golden

Key of the City The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...

Frankfort, Kentucky Frankfort is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, United States, and the seat of Franklin County. It is a home rule-class city; the population was 28,602 at the 2020 census. Located along the Kentucky River, Frankfort is the prin ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, (29 May 2013) by Mayor Graham * ISSA Silver Star Award (1997) by the

International Strategic Studies Association The International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA) describes itself as Washington, D.C.–based non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organiz ...

for "Outstanding Contributions to Strategic Progress Through Humanitarian Achievement" for his work for Ethiopian

refugees A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

* Medal of Merit of South Carolina,

Other honorifics

* Knight Grand Cross of Justice 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 (monastic society), military order founded by crusaders around 1119 at a leprosy, leper hospital in Jerus ...

(

Grand Priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of monk ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) (12 December 2010). * Knight Grand Cross of Merit of the Companionate of Merit of the Hospitaller

(

Grand Prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be low ...

) (July 2013).

Ancestry

References

External links

Biography at Ethiopian Crown Council website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ermias Sahle Selassie 1960 births Living people Ethiopian Royal Family Ethiopian princes Ethiopian anti-communists Haile Selassie Recipients of the Order of Saint Lazarus (statuted 1910)