Yeshi Kassa, the great-granddaughter of Ethiopia's last emperor, says nobody at her UK boarding school knew she was a royal until the revolution
Constance Marks Productions
- Yeshi Kassa is the great-granddaughter of Ethiopia's last emperor who was deposed and killed.
- Kassa shared the horrors her family faced during the revolution in a new documentary.
- She spoke to Insider about her experience at boarding school in the UK during that time.
Ethiopian royal Yeshi Kassa told Insider that nobody at her boarding school in the UK knew who she was until the revolution.
Kassa is the great-granddaughter of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, who was deposed by the revolution in 1974 and killed by Marxist army officers in 1975, The Washington Post reported in 1994.
In the new documentary, "Grandpa Was An Emperor," Kassa guides viewers through the events that led to the revolution, including the civil unrest and famine in Ethiopia, as well as the horrors some of her family endured after. Some were imprisoned in a 154-square-foot room with no running water and giant rats, while others were killed.
—Grandpa Was An Emperor (@GrandpaFilm) May 30, 2023
She also provides insights on her own experiences during that time, as the documentary shows her return to Clarendon School, the boarding school in north Wales where she lived when the revolution began.
The documentary was directed by Constance Marks and is available on streaming platforms including Apple TV, iTunes, and Amazon.
Kassa said her classmates had no idea who she was until her family members were imprisoned
In Ethiopia, Kassa's mother, grandmother, and aunts were among 12 royal family members who were imprisoned when the revolution began.
Kassa told Insider she was around 11 or 12 years old at the time and living at Clarendon with her sister and cousins.
"We were blessed, because my mother and my aunts had already gone to that school," Kassa said.
"We were walking into familiar territory, as the teachers knew us, and we knew them. But the students had no idea, until the revolution started happening, because at assembly in the morning, they would always pray for the imperial women.... so at that point, the students realized who we were," she added.
"By the time they realized, I think all they cared about was that I was good at hockey, I was good at netball, I was an absolute sports girl. So that was more important to them than who I was," she said.
After leaving school, Kassa said she became a commodity broker in England before relocating to the US several years later with her family after they were released from prison.
After 14 years in prison, seven female members of the royal family were released in May 1988, AP News reported at the time.
Kassa said she's extremely grateful to the British royal family and the British public for their support during the revolution. At the time, many people wrote letters to their local MPs, which led to an international campaign that was "instrumental" in saving the family members who were imprisoned, she said.