Zera Yacob Amha Selassie (; Ge'ez: ዘርዐ ያዕቆብ አምሃ ሥላሴ; born 17 August 1953) 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 son of

Amha Selassie Amha Selassie ( Amharic: አምሃ ሥላሴ; Āmiha Šilasē; born Asfaw Wossen Tafari; 27 July 191617 January 1997) was Emperor-in-exile of Ethiopia. As son of Haile Selassie I, he was Crown Prince and was proclaimed Emperor three times. He ...

of the

Ethiopian Empire The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that histori ...

. He has been head of the Imperial House of Ethiopia since 17 February 1997 as recognized by 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 abandon ...

. 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. 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 in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

and graduated from Exeter College,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

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 an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question. ...

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 and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and was married to Princess Nunu (née Getaneh), and later divorced. The marriage produced a daughter, Princess Lideta. He was named

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

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

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, 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 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 ...

, 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, which includes the Cubitt Town, Millwall and Canary Wharf districts. The area was historically part of the Manor, Ha ...

. Yacob has been the Executive Director of the Ethiopian Peace Foundation (EPF) since 2002. Crown Prince Zera Yacob is regarded as head of the Imperial Family of Ethiopia. He lives 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 ...

Honours

Zera Yacob is the sovereign of the Imperial Ethiopian Order of Saint Mary of Zion and bestows awards to individuals for their outstanding service to the people of Ethiopia. Honours Yacob has received include: *

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 around 1119 at a leper hospital in Jerusalem, Kingdom of Jerusalem, whose care beca ...

( Orléans-French Royal Family) *

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

Russian Imperial Family The House of Romanov (also transcribed Romanoff; rus, Романовы, Románovy, rɐˈmanəvɨ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after the Tsarina, Anastasia Romanova, was married to t ...

) *

Royal_Order_of_the_Drum_(Rwanda)_-_ribbon_bar

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

Knight Grand Collar of the

Order of the Eagle of Georgia The Order of the Eagle of Georgia and the Seamless Tunic of Our Lord Jesus Christ ( ka, საქართველოს არწივისა და უფლისა ჩვენისა იესო ქრისტეს უკერ� ...

( Georgian Royal Family)Studylib
/ref>

Ancestry

References

External links

The Crown Council of Ethiopia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zera Yacob Amha 1953 births Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Zera Yacob Amha Selassie of Ethiopia Zera Yacob, Crown Prince 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)