Haile Selassie I was an Ethiopian regent from 1916 to 1930 and emperor from 1930 to 1974. He is a defining figure in contemporary Ethiopian history. He was a member of the Solomonic Dynasty who traced his lineage to Emperor Menelik I via his Shewan royal ancestors as a great-grandson of king Sahle Selassie.

When the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie (full title: His Imperial Majesty the King of Kings of Ethiopia, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of God) was deposed in a coup d’etat by Marxist officers in the Ethiopian military in 1974, he was removed from his palace in a nondescript Volkswagen Type 1 Beetle.