At the age of seven, Alemayehu from Ethiopia ended up in England because of a conflict, wrote the BBC. In 1862, his father, Emperor Tewodros, wanted to ally himself with the British. Collaboration with a powerful European is to strengthen his empire.

After Queen Victoria did not answer her request, the emperor decided to take the Europeans hostage. Among them was also an important British diplomat. A successful British siege followed, with painful results for the Ethiopian emperor.

Alemayehu taken with mother

Not only thousands of treasures such as gold crowns, chains and dresses were looted by the British. Also, the emperor’s wife, Tiruwork Wube, was brought to England with her son Alemayehu.

Tiruwork Wube’s mother died en route and so small Alemayehu was left alone until he met the English Queen Victoria. Her status as an orphan evokes sympathy in him, so he decides to support her financially. He placed him under the care of Captain Tristam Charles Sawyer Speedy, the man who had accompanied the prince on his journey from Ethiopia.

Queen’s diary

In 1879 the prince died of an unknown disease at the age of 18. Queen Victoria was deeply moved.

“I am deeply saddened and shocked to learn by telegram that the good Alemayehu passed away this morning,” he wrote in his diary. “Sad! Alone, in a foreign land, with no relatives to belong to.”

He arranged a funeral for him at Windsor Castle.

Now, nearly 150 years later, the boy’s family is demanding that his remains be returned to Ethiopia. “We want his body to come back as a family and an Ethiopian,” family member Fasil Minas told the BBC. “England is not the country where he was born. So burying him there is not right.”

Disturbing the environment

Buckingham Palace said in a statement that the boy would remain in place. The excavation of the remains could have implications for other people buried in the catacombs of St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

It was simply impossible to dig up the remains without disturbing the resting places of a large number of other people in the area.

Additionally, the British Royal Family stated that it has a “responsibility to uphold the dignity of the deceased”.

This is not the first time the prince’s remains have been requested. In 2007, the then president of Ethiopia, Girma Wolde Giorgis, unsuccessfully asked Queen Elizabeth to return the remains.