Holy Ethiopian tablet sent back after talks with King

Tabot repatriated after Westminster Abbey approached royals for approval

WESTMINSTER ABBEY has agreed to return a holy tablet to Ethiopia following consultation with the Royal Household.

The “tabot”, which is sacred to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, has been the subject of repeated calls for repatriation, but campaigns have met with little success until now.

David Hoyle, the Dean of Westminster, has now agreed “in principle” that the tabot should be returned to Ethiopia after a period of consultation with the Royal Household.

The Abbey is a “royal peculiar” outside the control of the Church of England and technically under King Charles’s jurisdiction.

The landmark decision follows lengthy talks with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and a 2018 request by the country’s government for the tabot to be returned after being looted by British forces in 1868.

It marks a significant victory for repatriation campaigners.

A tabot is a tablet, usually of wood, that represents the Ark of the Covenant which held the Tablets of Law on which Moses received the Ten Commandments. Each Ethiopian Orthodox church possesses one, and they are believed to sanctify and bring God’s presence to the spaces.

A spokesman for the Abbey said: “The Dean and Chapter has decided in principle that it would be appropriate to return the Ethiopian tabot to the Ethiopian Church.

“We are currently considering the best way to achieve this, and we are in ongoing discussions with representatives of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

“This is a complex matter, and it may take some time.”

They added: “The Dean of Westminster consults widely about these types of decisions and as a Royal Peculiar, a church under the jurisdiction of the monarch rather than a bishop, this includes discussions with the Royal Household.”

Buckingham Palace had previously refused campaigners seeking to repatriate the remains of Alemayehu, a 19th-century Ethiopian prince, from another royal peculiar, St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, on the grounds that it would disturb other burials.

Alemayehu was prince of Abyssinia, now Ethiopia, and was brought to England after British forces defeated his father in a 1868 campaign. The prince grew up with the support and keen interest of Queen Victoria, and was accorded a burial at Windsor.

Sacred tabots were looted from the mountain fortress of Maqdala during the same Abyssinian campaign in which Prince Alemayehu was captured.

Nine of the objects made their way to the British Museum, which has repeatedly been asked to repatriate them to Ethiopia, and one was donated to Westminster Abbey by Captain George Arbuthnot of the Royal Artillery.

It was later incorporated into an altar in the Lady Chapel by architect George Gilbert Scott, where it has remained despite repeated requests for its return.

While Westminster Abbey has the freedom, with the assent of the Royal Household, to return artefacts, the British Museum is compelled in law to retain the objects in its collection.

Given their sacred status, the tabots are not on display at the museum and are never viewed or studied by staff.

The decision of a major British institution such as Westminster Abbey to embrace repatriation marks a significant victory for campaigners.

However, the removal of the tabot from the Abbey may prove difficult.

The tabot is set in an altar and an expert on the historic fabric of the building will make the final call on whether it can be removed.