Haile Selassie Gugsa
From Kaiserreich
Haile Selassie Gugsa (born in Abyssinia, in 1907) is an Ethiopian noble and army leader.
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Biography
Early Life
Haile Selassie Gugsa was born in Abyssinia in 1907, son of Leul Ras Gugsa Araya Selassie, hereditary Prince of Tigray, and his first wife; he was also the great-grandson of Emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia by his son Ras Araya Selassie.
Political career
Emperor Haile Selassie I granted Gugsa the military title of Leul Dejazmatch in 1930 (the heirs of imperial blood were titled Leul Dejazmach to elevate them above the non-imperial blood Dejazmaches) and when his father died, on April 28 1932, he was appointed Governor of Eastern Tigray.
However, Gugsa resented the fact that his cousin and rival Seyum Mengesha had been given the title of Ras while he was relegated to the lower rank of Dejazmach. The two branches of Emperor Yohannes's family had long competed for seniority, and although the province of Tigray had been split between them, Haile Selassie Gugsa resented not having the title of Ras. For this reason, he joined the conservative faction who opposed the reforms proposed by the Emperor.
Personal Life
Gugsa married Princess Zenebework, third daughter of Emperor Haile Selassie I and his wife Empress Menem, at Addis-Ababa on July 14 1932, but she died of childbirth at Mekelle on March 24 1933. The marriage was part of a dynastic alliance that also included the marriage of her brother, Prince Asfaw Wossen to Princess Wolete Israel Seyoum, the daughter of Ras Seyum Mengesha. The marriage between Princess Zenebework and Dejazmach Haile Selassie however was evidently not a happy one and the Princess is said to have complained of poor treatment.
When Princess Zenebework died in 1933 the distraught Emperor ordered that her body be brought immediately from Mekelle to Addis-Ababa for burial. The reasons for this are unclear, but it may have had something to do with the Princess having repeatedly complained of her treatment at the hands of her husband and his family. This added to the resentment felt by her husband towards the Emperor and the tension rised between the Emperor and his son-in-law.
