Thank You: Belai Habte-Jesus:

Dear Colleagues:

I have a very sad news to all of us. It is with great sorrow and utmost respect that I announce the passing away of a histroical figure in the Ethiopian Imperial Royal House.

HIH Empress Medferiash Work Abebe the wife of the late HIH Amha Sellassie 227th Desdendant of the Solmonic Imperial Line from King Solomon to present passed away and was buried yesterday in Addis.

The Royal Family, friends and wellwishers had a speical memorial full funeral service for her in Washington DC (MD) at the Medhane Alem (Savior of the World) Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

A full throng of highly skilled and spiritual team of the Metropolitan Washington DC Ethiopan Orthodox Church convened and officiated a classical Ethiopian Orthodox Church Service.

Her Nephew Lij Amde Araya and her three grand daughters spoke fondly of her life and read scriptures from Psalms. One of the last grand daughter was overwhelmed with grief and the officiating priest asked the whole congregation to read with him Psalms 23.

Our prayers and best wishes are with Crown Prince HIH Zere Yacob Asfaw Wossen and His family at this critical moment in History.

She asked only Psalms 23 to be read at her funeral.

Thank you all for your great support to the Royal Family and Ethiopia during our most diffictult days.

May the Lord bless us all

Belai Habte-Jesus, MD., MPH
Bitwoded of the Imperial Ethiopian Crown.

Historical Notes:

For the record, it was HIH Medferiash Work who helped abort the 1953 Et Calendar Coup detat against the Emperor during his visit in Brazil, by alerting the Ethiopan Armed Forces Chief and other important people when the Crown Prince was kept hostage in the palace.

She again saved the Crown Prince when he was Crowned Emperor by the Military Junta in 1973 and was asked to return from his hospital treatment after a stroke. She called to check from Paris on her way to Ethiopia and the then Prime Minister alerted her the plan to assasinate them when they returned.


For the third time, she saved the Emperor in exile, Crown Prince Amha Sellassie when ill advised former Derg officials tried to trick the family to move to Addis without any preparation, and she sent them to check out first and it proved to be not condusive to return in the early 1991 after the Defeat of the Derg.

She was intelligent, perceptive and always seeking the truth and saved her family and the Crown from a series of embarassment and potential disaster by her deliberate search for the truth.

She lived in exile for over 33 years and looked after the Crown Prince and the business of the family under difficult circumstances. She will remembered as the most tenacious and highly intelligent Princes of the Imperial Era.

She was bright, intelligent and highly spiritual person who could decipher the truth at any one momement. This unique skill helped her survive three attempts on the life and posterity of the Crown. She was indeed a unique person in Ethiopian history who will be remembered for standing up to three sets of Revolutionaries and none of them could touch her and her family because of her firm faith in the Lord and highly perceptive and intelligent pesonality.

We all miss her friendship, leadership and royal presence. May the Lord keep her family and her legacy for ever.



She returned after the Crown Prince passed away to Addis and was living between her two homes in Addis and Virginia.

She is survived by her four children, and five grandchildren.



Belai Habte-Jesus, MD, MPH
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