UK Declines To Return Ethiopian Prince's Remains

Facts

• Buckingham Palace has reportedly denied requests to return the remains of an Ethiopian prince who was buried in the catacombs of St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle in the 19th century.¹
• The British Army brought Prince Alemayehu to the UK at age seven following the defeat of his father, Ethiopian Emperor Tewodros II, at the battle of Magdala in 1868. He arrived as an orphan after his mother died en route and was taken under the wing of Queen Victoria before his death from what was likely pneumonia at 18.²
• Descendants of Prince Alemayehu had requested the British royal family return his remains to his homeland, saying "it was not right" for the prince to remain buried in the UK as it's "not the country he was born in."³
• However, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said that it would be impossible "to exhume the remains without disturbing the resting place of a substantial number of others in the vicinity."⁴
• While chapel authorities said they were sensitive to the need to honor Alemayehu's memory, they insisted it was also their responsibility "to preserve the dignity of the departed."⁵
• In 2007, the Ethiopian government unsuccessfully requested the Queen to return Prince Alemayehu's body so he could be buried beside his father. Then, in 2019, Ethiopia's ambassador to London urged her to reconsider her decision insisting the prince was "stolen" and comparing him to a prisoner of war.⁶

Sources: ¹BBC News, ²NDTV.com, ³Sky News, ⁴The Telegraph, ⁵Guardian, and ⁶Daily Mail.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by The Washington Post. It's not right to pressure Windsor Castle on this matter, as there's a valid reason to continue to hold Prince Alemayehu's remains in the UK. While it's tragic that he was dislocated from Ethiopia and there is a case for his repatriation, identifying and exhuming the prince wouldn't be possible as there are dozens of bodies buried in the catacombs.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by East African Herald. Though the logistics of exhuming the remains are complex, it's unfair to keep Prince Alemayehu's body in a foreign country as his rightful resting place is next to his father in Ethiopia. Moreover, the UK — which also plundered Ethiopia to steal its gold, jewelry, and exotic animals — can use this moment to atone for its imperial past and diplomatic blunder by sending the prince's body back to where it belongs.