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Zera Yacob Amha Selassie, Crown Prince of Ethiopia (/ˈzɪərə jæˈkoʊb/; Ge’ez ዘርአ ያዕቆብ አምሃ ሥላሴ) (born 17 August 1953) is the grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie and son of Amha Selassie of Ethiopia. He has been head of the Imperial House of Ethiopia since 17 February 1997 as recognized by the Crown Council of Ethiopia.

He was designated as “acting crown prince” and heir presumptive in 1974 by the Emperor Haile Selassie I close to the end of his reign.

Biography

Zera Yacob attended Eton College and graduated from Exeter College, Oxford. He was named Acting Crown Prince and heir presumptive to the Imperial throne of Ethiopia in 1974 by his grandfather, Emperor Haile Selassie, following his father’s stroke a year earlier.

After the fall of the Ethiopian monarchy, Zera Yacob completed his studies at Oxford in the 1970s and worked briefly as a banker in the United States. He then moved to London and was married to Princess Nunu (née Getaneh), and subsequently divorced. The marriage produced a daughter, Princess Lideta. He briefly accompanied his father Amha Selassie to Virginia, United States, but later returned to Manchester, England. He had previously been named heir apparent by his father, who assumed the title of Emperor-in-Exile at that time in April 1989 in London.

Crown Prince Zera Yacob is regarded as head of the Imperial Family of Ethiopia and currently lives in Addis Ababa.

Patronages

• Executive Director of the Ethiopian Peace Foundation (EPF) since 2002.

Charity

Prince Zera Yacob is the sovereign of the Imperial Ethiopian Order of Saint Mary of Zion and bestows awards to individuals for their outstanding service to the people of Ethiopia.

Honours

National dynastic honours

Foreign orders

Ancestry

Patrilineal descent

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