Background
Tegnagne-Work was born on January 12, 1912 Harar, Ethiopian Empire. Princess Tenagnework received her title upon her father's succession to the imperial throne in November 1930.
Tegnagne-Work was born on January 12, 1912 Harar, Ethiopian Empire. Princess Tenagnework received her title upon her father's succession to the imperial throne in November 1930.
She was educated locally.
She returned to Ethiopia after the Liberation and, after being proposed for a number of dynastic marriages, finally married Andargatchew Massai, a successful businessman, Governor of Harar and Minister of Justice. After their marriage in 1944, he became Governor of Bagemdar. When Britain handed over power to Eritrea in 1952, as part of a federation with Ethiopia, her husband was made the first Ethiopian Representative in Eritrea and she went to live with him in Asmara, where they attempted to reduce the power of the Eritrean government. Afterwards Andargatchew was Minister of Interior (1958-61) and Governor of Sidamo (1961-1964) but he was injured in a motor accident in 1964 which left him an invalid. Princess engage has since developed her influence in the Emperor’s court in Addis Ababa.
The couple then served as the Vice-Roy and Vice-Rein of Eritrea, representing the Emperor there when the former Italian colony was federated to Ethiopia in 1951. Bitwoded Andargachew served in many other governmental posts. He was elevated to the title of Ras, served as Minister of the Interior, and was made an Imperial Senator and a Crown Councilor. Princess Tenagnework and Ras Andargatchew Messai were the parents of a daughter, Mentewab Andargachew, who died in childhood. After the death of her mother, Empress Menen Asfaw in 1961, Princess Tenagnework became the most visible and foremost woman at the imperial court and played an ever increasing advisory role to the monarch.
She passes on requests for land to Haile Selassie and has secured much for the welfare organisations to which she belongs. Site has brought up her children in a disciplined manner and has given them the same dedication and social concern which is her own hallmark.
The princess was often described as the child most like her father in temperament and character. A strong personality credited with mostly conservative views, she was widely regarded as a guardian of the institution of the monarchy. She was perceived as a leader of the traditionalist element within the nobility, which was seen as opposing constitutional and land tenure reform.
She married her first husband Ras Desta, a Gurage nobleman, when she was only 11. Her only surviving son is Eskender Desta, the Commander of the Ethiopian Navy. She had four daughters; the eldest, Princess Aida, married Mangasha Seyoum, the great grandson of Emperor Yohannes (who immediately preceded the great Emperor Menelik). The other daughters show that their mother brought them up as hardworking girls with a social conscience, also involved in welfare activities.
Her husband, Ras Desta, was killed by the Italians during the occupation in 1936. She went into exile in London and there met Abebe Retta, a classical scholar, but a commoner. They had a daughter, Mary. Finally she married Andargatchew Massai, a successful businessman, Governor of Harar and Minister of Justice.