The presentation portrait has the faded Royal Signature at left, dated 1961, in the original green leather photograph frame from Asprey of London, with the gilt crowned cypher at top.

His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie was born Tafari Makonnen Woldemikael on 23 July 1892, son of Ras Mäkonnen Wäldä-Mika'él Guddisa, a general and Governor of Harar who was also of noble descent. He claimed to have descended directly from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. He became Emperor on 2 November 1930 after the reign of Zewditu I, Empress of Ethiopia (1916-1930), for which he was Regent during that time, having come into it through a power struggle between noble factions. He was probably the first welknown Royal/noble of Ethiopia to travel widely to Europe and Middle East in 1924, for which he brought modernisation to Ethiopia from knowledges he gained abroad. As Emperor, he issued Ethiopia's first written constitution. Italy under Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in 1935, and the Emperor went into exile in 1936, addressing the League of Nations "with a speech sometimes considered among the most stirring of the 20th century" making him "an icon for anti-fascists around the world, and Time named him "Man of the Year." He won back Ethiopia in 1941 with the help of the Gideon Force, the UK and the Commonwealth nations. The famine of 1972-1974 together with the oil crisis of 1973 were the bases for the revolution of 1974 that finally overthrew the Emperor. Haile Selassie died in prison on 27 August 1975, with the news stating that it was due to respiratory problems following complications from a prostate operation.Many still believe it was an assasination. However it is viewed, Ethiopia has lost a man who had done so much for the country judging by the trails of successes we see today.

The Emperor's descendants are presently living in Ethiopia, the US and the UK.

For more information, please visit Wikipedia's Emperor Haile Selassie page