Page 39 - They Also Served

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Prince Alemayehu Tewodros 1878.
His Imperial Highness Prince Alemayehu
Tewodros, son of Emperor Tewodros II
of Ethiopia, was born on 23rd April 1861
into a family with a bloodline stretching
back to King Solomon and the Queen
of Sheba. In 1868, the emperor, in
frustration at European refusal to assist
him with his campaign against Turkish
expansion on the Red Sea, took several
hostages, including the British consul.
Queen Victoria sent an envoy requesting
their release but he, too, was detained. A punitive expedition was launched under Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Napier, who laid siege to the mountain-top fortress of Magdala. The battle lasted three days before the emperor committed suicide rather than face capture.
Given the great expense and complexity of mounting an operation involving 13,000 men and 30,000 animals marching over 400 miles, the government was anxious to portray the expedition as a victory for a benign empire overcoming hostile terrain and a barbarian potentate (despite the emperor being a Coptic Christian!). The cost of the expedition was also offset by the industrial-scale looting of Magdala in an operation that took 15 elephants and 200 mules to carry off the booty.
Also carried off as a prisoner was Empress Tiruwork Wube, who died on the way to the coast, leaving the young prince an orphan. Care of the boy then passed to Captain Tristram Speedy, a noted explorer whose knowledge of Ethiopia had been vital to the planning of the operation. Speedy dismissed the remainder of the Ethiopian entourage and brought Alemayehu to his home on the Isle of Wight. At six foot five and red-bearded, and with a penchant for dressing as an Ethiopian, Speedy spoke fluent Amharic and was a benign guardian. The prince was introduced to Queen Victoria at Osborne House and she took a great interest in his education. After a period in India, where Speedy had been posted, the government took charge of Alemayehu’s education, and he was sent to Lockers Park School, followed by Cheltenham College and, finally, Rugby.
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