THE PRINCE AND THE PLUNDER: How Britain took one small boy and hundreds of treasures from Ethiopia.

• Date: 01 September 2023
• Author: Kember, James

Author: Andrew Heavens Published by: The History Press, Cheltenham, 2023, 272pp, 22.90 [pounds sterling].

The British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Westminster Abbey and the National War Museum of Scotland all figure amongst tens of institutions in Britain and other countries in Europe and North America that hold religious artefacts, manuscripts and other items seized in a raid by British forces on the citadel of King Tewodros II at Maqdala (today: Amba Mariam) in the highlands of Ethiopia in 1868. Many of these items are in storage; and under the British Museums Act of 1963 and later legislation, they cannot be exchanged, given away or otherwise disposed of, except in the most exceptional circumstances. Many more items, known to have been taken and seen publicly in Britain in the late 19th century, have disappeared from view.

One or two items have been returned relatively recently (in the early 2000s). These included two tabots (the holy tablets representing the Ark of the Covenant that in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church are kept out...