Ermias Sahle Selassie


Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie is the only son of Prince Sahle Selassie of Ethiopia and Princess Mahisente Habte Mariam. He is the grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, and furthermore of Dejazmach Habte Mariam Gebre-Igziabiher, also known as Hambisa Kumsa Moroda whose father Kumsa Moroda was the third and last Moti, or ruler, of the Welega kingdom also referred as the Leqa Neqamte state. Currently, Prince Ermias is President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia.

Education

Prince Ermias was educated in Ethiopia, Great Britain, and the United States. In England, he received his education at Old Ride Preparatory School, and then at Haileybury College. He obtained a BA degree in social studies, with an emphasis in economics, from the University of California, in Santa Barbara. He continued his education at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy between 1983 and 1985.
Prince Ermias is fluent in Amharic, English and German.

Family

Prince Ermias was first married on 9 June 1989 to Woizero Gelila Fesseha, daughter of Afe-Negus Fesseha Gabre-Selassie, a former Lord Chief Justice of Ethiopia, and by her is the father of twin sons:
  • Prince Sahle-Selassie Ermias. Born on 20 February 1992.
  • Prince Fesseha Zion Ermias. Born on 20 February 1992.
Prince Ermias and Woizero Gelila Fesseha later divorced in July 2004. Woizero Gelila Fesseha died on December 9, 2025 in Fairfax, Virginia. On 25 February 2011, Prince Ermias married Woizero Saba Kebede. The Prince and his wife live in the Washington metropolitan area.

Royal function

Prince Ermias currently serves as the President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia in exile. The Crown Council has pursued a mission devoted to promoting a cultural and humanitarian role. Prince Ermias is also patron of the Haile Selassie Fund for Children in Need which continues to sponsor student scholarships, and the St. George of Lalibela Foundation.
On 16 September 2010, Prince Ermias delivered remarks at a briefing entitled "Traditional Leadership in the Modern World: Humanitarianism, Culture and the Diaspora" in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. This briefing was conducted by Representative Diane Watson, who was a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and whose congressional district in Los Angeles includes Little Ethiopia. Empanelled with visiting royalty from Cameroon and the Kingdom of Swaziland, Prince Ermias described the cultural leadership exercised by deposed and exiled royalty among members of ethnic communities living in either ancestral lands or diaspora in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Honours

As President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia since 1993 Prince Ermias is Grand Master of the following Orders belonging to the House of Solomon:
Prince Ermias is also Grand Master of two further dynastic orders which were established 18 years after the fall of the Ethiopian Empire. The Order of Haile Selassie I was founded in 1992 to commemorate the Emperor's 100th birthday. The Order of the Ethiopian Lion was established in 1994 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Adwa.

Foreign honours

Dynastic honours

Other awards