Portrait of Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia (1892 – 1975) Wearing the Order of the Garter by Edward Bainbridge Copnall 1907-1973

Portrait of Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia (1892 – 1975) wearing the order of the Garter by Edward Bainbridge Copnall 1907-1973

signed and inscribed "ASSAB"

oil on canvas

36 x 28in. (91 x 71 cm.)

Emperor Haile Salassie I of Ethiopia was made a knight of the Order of the Garter in 1954 . "On his appointment to the Order of the Garter in 1954 the Emperor at first asked that he be allotted two stalls in St George's Chapel, one for him as Emperor of Ethiopia, and the other for him as The Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah."

Tafari Makonnen, who took the regal name of Haile Selassie (meaning Power of the Trinity) on becoming Emperor in 1930, was the son of Ras Makonnen, first cousin of Emperor Menilek II and governor of Harar in south-east Ethiopia. Educated by Jesuit missionaries and at secondary school in Addis Ababa, he was appointed governor of Harar at the age of 17. In September 1916 Menilek's grandson and successor, Yasu, was ousted in a palace coup, and Tafari became regent and heir to the throne with the title of Ras, thus gaining the name by which he was to be known to the Rastafarians.

Over the next fourteen years he gradually built up his power through a capacity for skilful political manœuvre which he never lost. He was instrumental in securing Ethiopia's admission to the League of Nations in 1923, and became Emperor in 1930. As leader of the modernizing group in the Ethiopian court politics of the time, he sought to expand education and build links with foreign states, but was careful not to alienate powerful domestic interests. He issued a written constitution in 1931, in which he retained all major powers himself. His diplomatic skills however failed to avert invasion by Fascist Italy in 1935; the Ethiopian armies were defeated and Haile Selassie fled to exile in England, impressing the world with his dignity in an address to the League of Nations, protesting at Italian conquest.

Haile Selassie returned to Ethiopia in 1941, and regained the throne with the defeat of the Italians. Initially reliant on the British, he established close relations with the United States, curbed the power of the regional aristocracy, and built a more centralized administration than Ethiopia had ever known. He secured the federation with Ethiopia of the former Italian colony of Eritrea in 1952, and despite a 1955 constitution which introduced universal suffrage he retained close personal control over government. His cautious regime came to seem archaic to younger educated Ethiopians, and his imposition of centralized rule on Eritrea provoked revolt. After an abortive coup led by the commander of his bodyguard in 1960, he was always on the defensive.

He seized the diplomatic opportunity presented by African independence, and hosted the 1963 conference which established the Organization of African Unity, ensuring that the organization would be used to uphold existing states and boundaries. This aided him both against the Eritrean separatists, and against Somali claims on south-east Ethiopia. In the latter part of his reign, his prestige abroad contrasted with a steady loss of authority at home, and he was unable to cope with the creeping revolution which led to his deposition by a radical military regime in September 1974. His apparent indifference to a major famine undermined his position. He was murdered in his palace by his successor, Mengistu Haile Mariam. Despite his decline in his later years, he remained a symbol of African dignity both within and outside the continent, and is likely to be remembered as one of the greatest of twentieth-century Africans.