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{{short description|Ethiopian princess}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Princess Romanework
| image =
| birth_date =
| death_date = 14 October 1940{{cn|date=June 2020}}
| birth_place =
| death_place = [[Turin]], [[Kingdom of Italy]]
| spouse = Major-General ''Dejazmatch'' [[Beyene Merid]]
| father = [[Haile Selassie]]
| mother = ''Woizero'' Woinetu Amede / "Altayech" (possibly both of these refer to the same individual)
| place of burial = [[Turin]], [[Kingdom of Italy]]
| religion = [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church|Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo]]
| issue = ''Lij'' Getachew Beyene ''Dejazmatch'' Merid Beyene ''Dejazmatch'' Samson Beyene ''Lij'' Gideon Beyene
| dynasty = [[Solomonic dynasty|House of Solomon]] (Shewan Branch)
}}
'''Princess Romanework Haile Selassie''', sometimes spelt as '''Romane Work Haile Selassie''' (died in [[Turin]] on 14 October 1940), was the eldest child of Emperor [[Haile Selassie]] of Ethiopia by his first wife, ''Woizero'' Altayech.<ref name="Mockler">Mockler, Anthony, ''Haile Selassie's War'' (2003), p. xxvii</ref><ref>''My Life and Ethiopia's Progress'', Vol. 2 (1999), p. 170 (translators' footnote)</ref>

==Biography==
The English translation of the emperor's autobiography makes no mention of Princess Romanework, or the Emperor's previous marriage, although he writes in the original Amharic version his grief at learning of the death of his eldest daughter in captivity at Turin just days after his restoration to his throne following the defeat of the Italian fascist occupation. The name of Princess Romanework's mother mentioned by Mockler- "''Woizero'' Altayech"-<ref name="Mockler" /> may be a nickname Princess Romanework's mother used, as the contemporary source, Blata Merse Hazen Wolde Kirkos (a prominent nobleman and important figure in both the Imperial court and within the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]]), mentions Princess Romanework's mother ''Woizero'' Woinetu Amede as attending the wedding of her daughter to ''Dejazmatch'' [[Beyene Merid]] in his book about the years before the Italian occupation.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

The Princess married Major-General ''[[Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles|Dejazmach]]'' [[Beyene Merid]], governor of [[Bale Province, Ethiopia|Bale]], and they had four sons, two of whom ''Dejazmach'' Merid Beyene and ''Dejazmach'' Samson Beyene, survived to adulthood.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

Princess Romanework was captured by the Italians and interned with many other noble Ethiopians on the prison island of [[Asinara]], off the coast of [[Sardinia]]<ref name=him170>[[Haile Selassie|Haile Selassie I]], ''My Life and Ethiopia's Progress'', Vol. 2 (1999), p. 170 (translators' footnote)</ref> as one of the [[Ethiopian POWs during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War]]. However, her husband Beyene Merid remained at liberty and was a leader of the resistance against the [[Italian East Africa|Italian occupation of Ethiopia]] from 1936 until he too was captured, to be executed in 1937. Falling ill, Romanework was moved to the ''[[Ospedale Maggiore]]'' in [[Turin]], where she died on 14 October 1940,<ref name=him170 /> probably of [[tuberculosis]].{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

After the end of the Second World War, the Italians were asked to return Princess Romanework's body, and those of her two younger sons to Ethiopia, where they would be interred in the Imperial family's crypt in the [[Holy Trinity Cathedral (Addis Ababa)|Holy Trinity Cathedral]] at [[Addis Ababa]]. However this was never actually carried out and the Princess remains buried in the Monumental Cemetery of Turin with her son Getachew. Her surviving sons were raised by her father the Emperor [[Haile Selassie]], and her line is currently represented by her grandson Sebastyanos Beyene, who lives in [[Abingdon, Oxfordshire|Abingdon]], [[England]].{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

== Patronages ==
* President of the Ethiopian Women's Charitable Works Association.

== Honours ==
* [[File:Order of The Queen of Sheba (Ethiopia) ribbon.gif|60px]] - Dame Grand Cordon of the [[Order of the Queen of Sheba]] (1930).
* Imperial Coronation Medal (1930).

==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
|1= 1. '''Princess Romanework of Ethiopia '''
|2= 2. [[Haile Selassie|''Emperor'' Haile Selassie I]]
|3= 3. ''Woizero'' Woinetu Amede
|4= 4. [[Makonnen Wolde Mikael|''Ras'' Mäkonnen Wäldä-Mika'él Guddisa]]
|5= 5. [[Yeshimebet Ali|''Woizero'' Yeshimebet Ali Abba Jifar]]
|8= 8. ''Dejazmach'' Wolde Mikael Gudessa
|9= 9. ''Immabet'' Tenagnework Sahle Selassie
|10= 10. ''Dejazmach'' Ali Abba Jifar of [[Oromo people|Woreilu]]
|11= 11. ''Immabet-Hoy'' Walatta Ihata Giyorgis Yimeru
|16= 16. ''Dejazmach'' Wolde Malakot Yamana Krestos
|17= 17. ''Woizero'' Kalama Worq
|18= 18. ''Negus (King)'' [[Sahle Selassie]]
|19= 19. ''Woizero'' Yimegnushal Ayele
|22= 22. ''Ato'' Yimeru of [[Gurage people|Gurage]]
|23= 23. ''Woizero'' Araza-Aregai
}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Selassie, Romanework Haile}}
[[Category:1940 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Ethiopian people]]
[[Category:20th-century Ethiopian women]]
[[Category:Ethiopian Royal Family|Romanework]]
[[Category:Ethiopian princesses|Romanework]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing]]
[[Category:Burials at Holy Trinity Cathedral (Addis Ababa)]]
[[Category:Children of Haile Selassie]]
[[Category:Daughters of emperors]]
[[Category:Prisoners who died in Italian detention]]

{{Ethiopia-royal-stub}}

Princess Romanework - Revision history

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