Background
He was named "Acting Crown Prince" and Heir Presumptive to the Imperial throne of Ethiopia in 1974 by his grandfather, Emperor Haile Selassie, following his father"s severe stroke a year earlier.
He was named "Acting Crown Prince" and Heir Presumptive to the Imperial throne of Ethiopia in 1974 by his grandfather, Emperor Haile Selassie, following his father"s severe stroke a year earlier.
He attended Eton College and graduated from Exeter College, Oxford. Following the fall of the Ethiopian monarchy, Prince Zera Yacob completed his studies at Oxford in the mid-seventies and went on to work briefly as a banker in the United States.
He has been Head of the Imperial House of Ethiopia since 17 February 1997 and is currently recognized as such by the self-styled Crown Council of Ethiopia. He briefly accompanied his father Amha Selassie when he moved to Virginia in the United States in 1989, but later returned to England and resided for a time in Manchester. He was named Heir Apparent by his father Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen, when the Crown Prince assumed the title of Emperor-in-Exile in April 1989.
Crown Prince Zera Yacob has been regarded as head of the Imperial Family of Ethiopia since the death of his father on 17 February 1997.
He is currently living in Addis Abeba. Executive Director of the Ethiopian Peace Foundation (EPF) since 2002.
Prince Zera Yacob is the sovereign of the Imperial Ethiopian Order of Saint Mary of Zion and bestows awards to individuals for their outstanding service of assistance to the people of Ethiopia. National dynastic honours Foreign honours.