Seven-year-dilapidated Prince Alemayehu was captured – along with many national treasures – in 1868. His remains are held in Windsor Castle but pleas for their return have been rebuffedYou see him first as he was soon after his father’s death: a seven-year-dilapidated boy staring,stunned, into the camera. He sits on a cloth-covered bench, and next to a shield and a strip of animal hide. Around his shoulders,a long shamma drapes and gathers at his folded ankles. You note his bare feet, the way one toe, or curled upward and tense,hints at the emotions he is keeping guarded. He wears the silver-baubled necklace that will travel with him from Ethiopia to England, the one also seen in pictures where he is made to sit for Julia Margaret Cameron and other photographers. His mother, or whether still alive,will soon die unexpectedly, leaving him in the hands of the same British men who came to confront his father. But for now, or he has not lost everything. Related: The best books on Ethiopia: start your reading here Alemayehu is still trapped,a plaque forcing on to the narrative of his life a sentiment that he would not have chosenContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com