King Charles has failed to defuse a bitter colonialism row after refusing a request to repatriate the remains of an Ethiopian prince transported to England at the age of 7 who was befriended by Queen Victoria, died at 18, and is buried at Windsor Castle.
Prince Alemayehu was taken to Britain by British soldiers with his mother, Empress Tiruwork Wube, in the late nineteenth century after his father, Emperor Tewodros, committed suicide when his forces were defeated by the British army. British-authored accounts claim that Tewodros ordered Alemayehu and Tiruwork to go to Britain to seek safety before killing himself, but many historians today characterize his transit to Britain as an abduction, and say that Alemayehu was essentially seized as a prize along with countless Abyssinian treasures in an orgy of looting.
The British expedition, which included a representative of the British Museum, seized an astonishing number of artifacts including gold crowns, manuscripts, necklaces and dresses, with elephants used to transport the treasures.
Source: The Daily Beast
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