Princess Tenagnework - Later Life

Later Life

Princess Tenagnework settled in her second exile, in the Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C. to be near her only surviving sibling, Amha Selassie (Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen). The imperial family was living mostly in the Washington area and in London at the time. The death of her brother in 1997 deeply affected her, and her health began to decline. She returned permanently to Ethiopia in 1999. On 5 November 2000, Emperor Haile Selassie was reburied at Holy Trinity Cathedral with much pomp conducted by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The Princess attended the burial, which was refused state funeral status by the EPRDF government.

Princess Tenagnework died in Addis Ababa on 6 April 2003. On 13 April, a funeral mass for the Princess was led by Abune Paulos, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Church, and was attended by most of the other hierarchs of the Ethiopian Church. Much of the old Ethiopian nobility and many members of the general public attended. She was buried in the crypt of Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa near the graves of her family.