Medferiashwork Abebe

Who was Medferiashwork Abebe?

Empress Medferiashwork Abebe baptismal name Amete Maryam was the titular Empress-consort of Amha Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia in Exile. Her father was Dejazmach and Lt. General Abebe Damtew, so she was thus a niece of Ras Desta Damtew who was the first husband of her sister-in-law, Princess Tenagnework. She was thus a member of the aristocratic Adisge clan. Her mother was Woizero Wossenyelesh Mengesha, daughter of Ras Mengesha Atikem of Damot and Agawmeder, a powerful noble of Gojjam who was a major figure during the reign of Emperor Menelik II. She was thus a member of two of Ethiopia's most influential noble families. Empress Medferiashwork was the daughter-in-law of Emperor Haile Selassie.

Medferiashwork Abebe Damtew married Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen Haile Selassie in 1945, and they had three daughters and a son, Prince Zera Yacob.

Medferiashwork was said to have played a key role in organizing the opposition to the attempted 1960 coup against Emperor Haile Selassie. Her husband had been coerced into reading a radio statement declaring that he was to henceforth assume his father's throne as a "salaried monarch" and also announce far reaching political reforms. The Crown Princess was one of the few members of the Imperial family not placed under detention, and she played a role in getting the members of the nobility that had not been detained together with the leaders of the Army in order to crush the Imperial Guard which had launched the coup.