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Yeshashework Yilma


Princess Yeshashework Yilma (died 1982) was the daughter of Yilma Makonnen, governor of Harar and niece of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. Her mother Aselefech Wolde Hanna was the niece of Empress Taitu Bitul, consort of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia. Through her paternal great-grandmother, she was a member of the Imperial Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopia. Her father died while she was still very young.

Yeshashework was raised in the Imperial Palace nursery alongside other children of royal blood during the reign of Menelik II, such as Lij Iyasu. Shortly after her uncle Ras Taffari Makonnen became Crown Prince and Regent of Ethiopia in 1917, Yeshashwork was given in marriage to the much older Gugsa Araya Selassie, Prince of Eastern Tigray, and grandson of Emperor Yohannes IV. As the wife of Leul Ras Gugsa, she was given the title of "Leult" (Princess) by Empress Zauditu, with the dignity of "Her Highness". Ras Gugsa died not long afterwards, and the widowed Princess returned to Addis Ababa from Mekele. In 1930, her uncle became Emperor Haile Selassie, and she was granted the title of Princess in her own right with the dignity of "Her Imperial Highness" as the daughter of his elder brother. Princess Yeshashework's second husband, Makonnen Demissew, perished at Amba Aradam while fighting the Italian invasion of 1936.

The Princess accompanied the rest of the Imperial family into exile, living primarily in Jerusalem until 1941. After the restoration, Princess Yeshashework married Makonnen Endelkachew, head of the powerful aristocratic Adisge clan. He was a veteran of the war and a fellow former exile, who became the first Prime Minister of Ethiopia. It was an unarranged love match, a rarity at that time in Ethiopian aristocratic marriages. John Spencer recounts an anecdote of the two coming into conflict over gourmant Makonnen enjoying the fine dining at the Shepherds Hotel in Cairo during the Lenten fast to the chagrin of his devout wife.


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