Page 40 - They Also Served

In 1878, the prince entered Sandhurst but was deeply unhappy and left after a term. Appallingly, some of his fellow cadets could not accept having an African in their midst and made his life a misery. A few weeks later, while staying with his old tutor in Leeds, he died of pleurisy at just 18. Queen Victoria was moved by his death, writing in her diary how sad it was that he should die so far from his family, how unhappy the prince had been in the cold climate of England, and how conscious he was of people staring at him because of his colour.
Prince Alemayehu was buried within the grounds of Windsor Castle in a brick vault outside St George’s Chapel, where a plaque reads: ‘I was a stranger and ye took me in’. Part of the Ethiopian treasure was auctioned off to pay for the expedition, and some of it was purchased by the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Magdala campaign was also the first to be properly recorded on film, and a specialist team of Royal Engineers photographers accompanied the force.
34