Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia hosted the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh on their first and only State Visit to Ethiopia on this day in 1965, 60 years ago, over a decade after the Ethiopian State Visit to Britain in 1954.
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were received by Emperor Haile Selassie in a grand ceremony upon arrival in Addis Ababa.
Waiting for her at the airport was the Emperor of Ethiopia in field-marshal’s uniform and a lion’s mane helmet. As she drove the two miles to the Jubilee Palace she passed two huge gilded aluminium lions erected in her honour.
Halfway on the journey they changed from a car to a state coach drawn by six white horses. Surrounded by a 100 horsemen of the imperial bodyguard, jogging under heavy lion’s mane helmets, it took more than an hour to drive the two miles through crowd clapping a rhythmic welcome and drums thumping. Horsemen cantered among the crowd with even longer lions’ manes stuck to their hair.
In the evening, Emperor Haile Selassie hosted a magnificent State Banquet in honour of the Queen (wearing Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik Tiara and the Coronation Necklace and Earrings) and Duke of Edinburgh in the African Hall of the Imperial Palace in Addis Ababa.
Later the Queen was guest of honour at a state banquet in the old palace, where in the gardens the Emperor keeps his pet lions. By then she could be in no doubt that she had come to the land of the Lion of Judah, King of Kings.
The welcome, all the same, was gay and unforced. The traffic jams began two hours before her plane arrived, and it was noticeable how pedestrians who had armed themselves with spears made the best progress.
The Queen (wearing the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara and King George VI Sapphire Suite) and Duke of Edinburgh also hosted a Return Banquet for Emperor Haile Selassie and the Ethiopian Royal Family in Addis Ababa.
During the week the accent will be mainly on the country’s ancient glories, with a night spent camping above the old capital of Gondar. But the Queen is also to see new glories, such as the huge Tendaho cotton estates, one of the few pieces of British enterprise in Ethiopia. It is the successful vision of Mitchell Cotts, and that company’s 10,000 British shareholders.
The Queen’s arrival has inspired the capital’s only daily newspaper to inaugurate a women’s page, and in this the Queen is praised as a monarch who has shown interest in industry and patronised the arts.
There was another Banquet attended by the Queen (in the Vladimir Tiara) and Duke with Emperor Haile Selassie and the Ethiopian Royal Family.
The Queen and British Royal Family hosted Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia on his State Visit to the United Kingdom in 1954, which was the second incoming State Visit to the Queen’s Reign.
The British Royal Family received Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and the Duke of Harar at Victoria Station in London, which was followed by a Carriage Procession back to Buckingham Palace.
While there are no images of that evening’s State Banquet inside Buckingham Palace, the Queen Mother (wearing the Oriental Circlet Tiara) and Princess Margaret (in Cartier Halo Tiara) were pictured arriving at the Palace from Clarence House.
A few days later, the Queen (wearing Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara, Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Necklace and Pearl Earrings) and Princess Margaret (in the Cartier Halo Tiara) were pictured arriving at the Return Banquet hosted by Emperor Haile Selassie at the Ethiopian Embassy in London.
The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh made their first and only State Visit to Ethiopia in 1965.
