The Prince and the Plunder: How Britain took one small boy and hundreds of treasures from Ethiopia

Part revisionist history, part treasure hunt, this is the forgotten story of a young prince taken out of Africa and abandoned in Victorian Britain. Drawing on primary sources and extensive original research, The Plundered Prince brings to light a dark chapter of Victorian imperialism. Andrew Heavens reveals the full story of Prince Alemayehu and tracks down the plunder
Ethiopia’s ‘Elgin Marbles’
in bank vaults, storerooms and a hidden cavity in Westminster Abbey. At the dawn of 1868, Britain invaded Ethiopia with 13,000 soldiers and a crack unit of collectors, oddballs and boffins. As the troops advanced, the force’s zoologists shot and stuffed anything that moved, while its archaeologists carried out hitand- run digs along the way. The British Museum librarian who was hitching a ride on the raid loaded up with crosses and crowns plundered during the mission’s final battle. And a redheaded, 6ft-7in intelligence officer called Captain Speedy picked up a young prince called Alemayehu and took him back to England, where he was coddled by Queen Victoria, studied by Darwin and dragged through the public school system. AUTHOR: Andrew Heavens is a senior editor at Reuters. Before joining the news desk, he was the agency’s correspondent in Sudan and Ethiopia. He grew up in Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt, and lives in London. The Plundered Prince is his first book. 38 b/w illustrations