Royal family declines request to return remains of Ethiopian prince

Royal family has reportedly declined a request from the family of a 19th century Ethiopian prince to return his remains.

Prince Alemayehu was reportedly held by the British Army in 1868 when he was seven years of age. He was arriving as an orphan after his mother died en route. Alemayehu spent almost a decade in Britain and died from pneumonia at the age of 18 in 1879.

Ethiopian leaders and his family have asked the Palace for his remains to be returned to his homeland.

"We want his remains back as a family and as Ethiopians because that is not the country he was born in," Fasil Minas, one of his descendants, told  and his family told the BBC., adding that "it was not right" for the prince to remain buried in the UK.

In response to the request, the royal family issued a statement, saying it regretted that due to the need to "preserve the dignity" of others buried at the chapel it had not been possible to agree to the request.

"The Dean and Canons of Windsor are very sensitive to the need to honour the memory of Prince Alemayehu," it said.

"However, they have been advised that it is very unlikely that it would be possible to exhume the remains without disturbing the resting place of a substantial number of others in the vicinity."

The statement added that officials had granted requests in recent years from Ethiopian delegations to visit St George's and "will continue to do so".