The basics
In 1868, British troops charged into the mountain empire of Ethiopia, stormed the citadel of its monarch Tewodros II, freed his European prisoners and grabbed piles of his treasures and sacred manuscripts.
They also took his son – six-year-old Prince Alemayehu – and brought the boy back with them to England.
His story starts in his father’s fortress Maqdala on the roof of Africa. Then it moves to his new home across the seas, where he charmed Queen Victoria, chatted with Lord Tennyson and travelled with his towering, red-headed guardian, Captain Speedy.
The orphan prince was celebrated but stereotyped and never allowed to go home. He died on November 14, 1879, aged just 18, in his tutor’s home in Headingley, outside Leeds.
