The seven-year-old prince was brought to the UK by army officer and explorer Tristram Speedy and they lived together on the Isle of Wight, according to the Royal Collection Trust. Other reports said the child, who also lost his mother at a young age, was captured by the British.
Buckingham Palace has rejected a request to return the remains of a teenage Ethiopian prince who was buried at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle more than 140 years ago.
Prince Alemayehu was the only legitimate son of Tewodros II, Emperor of Abyssinia, who killed himself in April 1868 after he was defeated by British troops at the battle of Magdala.
Following his father’s death, the seven-year-old prince was brought to the UK by army officer and explorer Tristram Charles Sawyer Speedy and they lived together on the Isle of Wight, according to the Royal Collection Trust.
Other reports said the child, who also lost his mother at a young age, was captured by the British.
The orphaned prince was presented to Queen Victoria who took a great interest in the child and often mentioned the boy, also known as Alamayou, in her diaries.
When he died in 1879 of pleurisy – inflammation of the tissue between the lungs and rib cage – at the age of just 18, Queen Victoria was deeply upset and at her request, he was buried at the chapel.
She remarked in her journal: “Very grieved & shocked to hear by telegram, that good Alamayou had passed away this morning. It is too sad! All alone, in a strange country, without a single person or relative belonging to him […] Everyone is sorry.”