How an Ethiopian prince came to be buried at Windsor Castle
His story is a parable of the pain and guilt of colonial-era looting
In a corner of St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, beside a 500-year-old chantry, is an ornate bronze plaque inscribed in English and Amharic. Nearby, it explains, lies buried Alamayu—the son of Tewodros II, Abyssinia’s king of kings—who died in 1879. “This tablet is placed here to his memory by Queen Victoria,” the plaque records, sentimentally concluding: “I was a stranger and ye took me in.”
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Buried treasure”
Culture February 25th 2023
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