Princess Ijigayehu Amha Selassie Explained

Princess Ijigayehu Amha Selassie /princess Ijigayehu Asfaw Wossen
Spouse:Dejazmatch Fikre-Selassie Hapte Mariam
Issue:Prince Samson Fikre Selassie
Princess Rahel Fikre Selassie
Princess Meheret Fikre Selassie
Princess Aster Fikre Selassie
Princes Bekere Fikre Selassie
Prince Yishaq Fikre Selassie
House:Solomonic dynasty
Father:Amha Selassie
Mother:Wolete Israel Seyoum
Birth Place:Dessie, Wollo, Ethiopian Empire
Death Place:Akaki Prison, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Religion:Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo
Burial Place:Ketchene Medhan Alem Church

Princess Ijigayehu Amha Selassie (4 September 1936 – 23 January 1976) was the eldest child of Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen of Ethiopia by his first wife, Princess Wolete Israel Seyoum and was the granddaughter to Emperor Haile Selassie.

Lineage and marriage

Through her mother's family she was a great-great-granddaughter of Emperor Yohannes IV. Princess Ijigayehu was married to Dejazmach Fikre Selassie Habte-Mariam,[1] the heir to the old Welega Kingdom of Leqa Naqamte, and brother to Woizero Atsede Habte-Mariam (wife of General Mulugeta Bulli) and Princess Mahisente Habte Mariam (wife of Prince Sahle Selassie). Dejazmach Fikre Selassie and Princess Ijigayehu were the parents of six children (all created Princes and Princesses by their grandfather Emperor Amha Selassie while in exile):

Princess Ijigayehu notably accompanied her grandfather Emperor Haile Selassie on his state visit to Italy and also on his state visits to South Korea, Australia, and Malaysia.

Derg Uprising

Princess Ijigayehu was imprisoned with the rest of the Imperial family on September 11, 1974, the day before Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed by the Derg. She died in early 1976 after medical neglect while still in prison.[2] She was buried at the Ketchene Medhan Alem Church in Addis Ababa by her children and her mother who were under surveillance but not imprisoned. Early the following year, all her children, along with other children of the Imperial family, escaped from Ethiopia. Her husband remained imprisoned for 8 years and died in August 1996.

Honours

National

Foreign

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Modern Ethiopian Monarchs Part Eight. www.harep.org. 10 September 2012.
  2. Web site: Amha Selassie I – Emperor-in-Exile. Angelfire. 10 September 2012.