His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie is President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia and founder of the Royal Ethiopian Trust (RET), a non-profit organisation focused on preserving Ethiopia’s cultural heritage and supporting education and economic development.
In recent years, the RET has played a decisive role in securing the repatriation of looted Ethiopian artefacts taken during Britain’s 1868 invasion of Magdala, a moment widely recognised as one of the most violent episodes of colonial plunder in African history.
So far, those efforts have resulted in the return of several key 19th-century objects, including the Magdala Shield and a gold imperial hairpin. Both were looted by British troops following the defeat of Emperor Tewodros II.
Prince Ermias said negotiating their return required patience and strategy.
“We didn’t go the route of confrontation,” he explained.
“Often when you confront, they take these items completely out of auction and they completely disappear.”
Instead, the RET focused on quiet diplomacy.
“The auction house was very accommodating,” he said, “but it was a time-consuming process. We didn’t want it for ourselves; we wanted it to be repatriated back to Ethiopia.”
In December 2025, the RET secured another major success: the recovery of an imperial hairpin belonging to Empress Tiruwork, wife of Emperor Tewodros II.
The piece was identified at an auction in Rome and secured through negotiations with Italian auction house Bertolami Fine Art.
Led by Prince Ermias and RET board member Nicholas Melillo, the negotiations ensured the artefact’s planned return in early 2026 restoring another fragment of Ethiopia’s displaced history.
