LONDON: Buckingham Palace on Tuesday said it has declined a request from the family of a 19th century Ethiopian prince to repatriate his remains. He spent the next decade in Britain, and was looked upon kindly by Queen Victoria, who arranged for his education before his death aged 18 in 1879 from pneumonia. At the reported request of Queen Victoria, he was entombed in the catacombs of St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, the royal residence west of London. Ethiopian leaders have previously asked the British royal family for his remains to be returned to his homeland, and his family told the BBC recently that they too had requested the repatriation. “We want his remains back as a family and as Ethio­pians because that is not the country he was born in,” Fasil Minas, one of his descendants, told the British broadcaster.

Source: Ethiopian News May 24, 2023 02:45 UTC