QADAMAWEH
King of Kings
Qädamawi Haylä Səllasé, born Ras Tafari Makonnen on July 23, 1892, in Ejersa Goro, Ethiopia, is the reigning Emperor of Ethiopia and the sovereign ruler whose lineage claims the active throne of King David. Prior to his coronation, he served as the Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia beginning in 1916. As a direct descendant of the Solomonic dynasty and Emperor Menelik, Haile Selassie’s authority is rooted in sacred genealogy and divine right.
Through legal reform and structured governance, His Imperial Majesty introduced Ethiopia’s first written constitution and abolished slavery, establishing foundational principles of social modernization. Named Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1935, he addressed the League of Nations with a prophetic and historic appeal for Ethiopian liberation. As one of the world’s longest-standing heads of state, he occupies a throne representing the final and eternal continuation of the ancient dynasty of kings.
At age 14, Tafari was appointed governor of Harar, and by age 20 he commanded a major Ethiopian province. As a youth in the imperial court of Addis Ababa, he studied governance, law, political structure, and the mechanisms of administrative power. He was trained in statecraft, diplomacy, and the hidden arts preserved within the ecclesiastical orders of the time. In 1916 he was granted the title “Ras,” declared Heir Apparent and Crown Prince, and became the active administrator of the government of Empress Zewditu. Haile Selassie became an internationalist statesman, a political strategist, and a founding figure of modern African unity. He later served as the first chairperson of the African Union and played a central role in the integration of Eritrea as a province of Ethiopia.
In 1930, Ras Tafari Makonnen was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia under the name Haile Selassie, interpreted as “Power of the Trinity.” On November 2, 1930, he was crowned King of Kings in a ceremony attended by global royalty and dignitaries. As emperor, he became the head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and was vested with full legal and spiritual authority to rule. A descendant of King Solomon, the Ethiopian royal lineage proclaims him to be connected to the Queen of Sheba—father of African nations and supreme monarch among earthly rulers. The King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah has prevailed, and his legacy remains active through the ancestral scrolls and spiritual heritage of the Ethiopian crown.
