Dr Alastair Massie presents a letter bearing the seal of King Theodore of Abyssinia and also some of his hair.
King's Hair (video)
Transcript
Voiceover:
Now, in "A small piece of history", Dr Alastair Massie of the National Army Museum presents a favourite object from the Collection.
Dr Alastair Massie:
This letter bears the great seal of King Theodore of Abyssinia and also some of King Theodore's hair which was taken from his dead body after the British captured Magdala in April 1868.
King Theodore was given to wild mood swings. He sent an angry letter to Queen Victoria, but due to the incompetence of the Foreign Office it was never acknowledged. And King Theodore took this as a great affront and imprisoned the British representative and a number of European missionaries. And so an army was sent to liberate them.
Rather than face capture, King Theodore committed suicide. He did this by shooting himself with a pistol given to him by Queen Victoria.
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