Princess Romanework Haile Selassie, sometimes spelt as Romane Work Haile Selassie (died in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

on 14 October 1940), was the eldest 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 ...

of Ethiopia by his first wife, ''Woizero'' Altayech.Mockler, Anthony, ''Haile Selassie's War'' (2003), p. xxvii''My Life and Ethiopia's Progress'', Vol. 2 (1999), p. 170 (translators' footnote)

Biography

The English translation of the emperor's autobiography makes no mention of Princess Romanework, or the Emperor's previous marriage, although he writes in the original Amharic version his grief at learning of the death of his eldest daughter in captivity at Turin just days after his restoration to his throne following the defeat of the Italian fascist occupation. The name of Princess Romanework's mother mentioned by Mockler- "''Woizero'' Altayech"- may be a nickname Princess Romanework's mother used, as the contemporary source, Blata Merse Hazen Wolde Kirkos (a prominent nobleman and important figure in both the Imperial court and within the

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church () is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Christian churches in Africa originating before European colonization of the continent, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church dates bac ...

), mentions Princess Romanework's mother ''Woizero'' Woinetu Amede as attending the wedding of her daughter to ''Dejazmatch'' Beyene Merid in his book about the years before the Italian occupation. The Princess married Major-General '' Dejazmach'' Beyene Merid, governor of

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, and they had four sons, two of whom ''Dejazmach'' Merid Beyene and ''Dejazmach'' Samson Beyene, survived to adulthood. Princess Romanework was captured by the Italians and interned with many other noble Ethiopians on the prison island of Asinara, off the coast of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

Haile Selassie I, ''My Life and Ethiopia's Progress'', Vol. 2 (1999), p. 170 (translators' footnote) as one of the Ethiopian POWs during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. However, her husband Beyene Merid remained at liberty and was a leader of the resistance against the Italian occupation of Ethiopia from 1936 until he too was captured, to be executed in 1937. Falling ill, Romanework was moved to the '' Ospedale Maggiore'' in

, where she died on 14 October 1940, probably of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. After the end of the Second World War, the Italians were asked to return Princess Romanework's body, and those of her two younger sons to Ethiopia, where they would be interred in the Imperial family's crypt in the Holy Trinity Cathedral at

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 ...

. However this was never actually carried out and the Princess remains buried in the Monumental Cemetery of Turin with her son Getachew. Her surviving sons were raised by her father the Emperor

, and her line is currently represented by her grandson Sebastyanos Beyene, who lives in Abingdon,

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Patronages

* President of the Ethiopian Women's Charitable Works Association.

Honours

* - Dame Grand Cordon of the Order of the Queen of Sheba (1930). * Imperial Coronation Medal (1930).

Ancestry

References

1940 deaths 20th-century Ethiopian people 20th-century Ethiopian women Romanework Romanework Year of birth missing Burials at Holy Trinity Cathedral (Addis Ababa) Children of Haile Selassie Daughters of emperors Prisoners who died in Italian detention {{Ethiopia-royal-stub