Desta Damtew
| Ras Desta Damtew | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1892 Maskan, Shewa |
| Died | 24 February 1937 (aged 44-45) Egia, Shewa |
| Burial | Holy Trinity Cathedral |
| Spouse | Princess Tenagnework |
| Issue | Amha Desta Iskinder Desta Aida Desta Seble Desta Sophia Desta Hirut Desta |
| Father | Damtew Ketena |
| Religion | Orthodox Christianity |
Desta Damtew (Amharic: ደስታ ዳምጠው ; ca. 1892 - 24 February 1937) was an Ethiopian noble, an army commander, and a son-in-law of Emperor Haile Selassie I.
Born at the village of Maskan (in the contemporary Gurage Zone), Desta Damtew was the second son of Damtew Ketena. His older brother was Abebe Damtew. In 1896, Fitawrari Damtew Ketena was killed at the Battle of Adwa. As boys, Lij Desta Damtew and his brother Lij Abebe Damtew served at the Imperial Palace in Addis Ababa as pages to Emperor Menelik II and Empress Taitu Bitul. Desta Damtew went on to serve in the Dowager Empress Taitu's household at the Palace on Mt. Entoto after the death of Menelik II.
In 1916, Desta Damtew supported Tafari Makonnen against Iyasu. Tafari Makonnen was the future Emperor Haile Selassie I. Lij Iyasu was deposed but escaped. In 1920, Desta Damtew was in the party that captured Lij Iyasu.
In 1924, Desta Damtew married Tafari Makonnen's daughter Tenagnework Haile Selassie. They had four daughters and two sons.
Anthony Mockler describes Desta Damtew as "something of an eccentric among Ethiopian nobles", who had run away in his twenties to become a monk at Debre Libanos, as well as having a reputation "as an entrepreneur and an enfant terrible." Mockler continues that Ras Desta "had as little taste as the young progressives of inferior birth for the traditional amusements of the Amhara aristocracy, the feasting, the horsemanship, the boasting and the drunkenness." According to his obituary in The Times he was "a tall and princelike figure, ascetically handsome in face and reserved in manner. He had the soft, almost inaudible voice of the aristocratic Amhara. Although a modernizer on the Imperial pattern, he was perfectly frank about his distrust of foreigners. "The less foreigners visit Ethiopia, the better," was a remark he once made at a European gathering at the British Legation."
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