Ariana Austin Makonnen

Ariana Austin Makonnen
Born Ariana Joy Lalita Austin[1]
Spouse Prince Joel Dawit Makonnen (m. 2017)
House Solomon
Father Bobby William Austin
Mother Joy Ford

Ariana Austin Makonnen of Ethiopia (born Ariana Joy Lalita Austin) is an American writer, arts manager and philanthropist. She is a member of the Ethiopian imperial family and the House of Solomon through her marriage to Prince Joel Dawit Makonnen, the great-grandson of Emperor Haile Selassie I.

Family

Makonnen was born in Washington, D.C. to Bobby William Austin, the president of the Neighborhood Associates Corporation and the first African-American full time academic faculty member at Georgetown University,[2] and Joy Ford, the executive director of Humanities DC, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.[3] She is of African-American and Guyanese descent.[4] Her maternal grandfather, John Meredith Ford, was Lord Mayor of Georgetown, Guyana.[5][6]

Education and career

Makonnen studied English literature at Fisk University and has a masters degree in arts education and creative writing from Harvard University.[3][7][8][9] She works in philanthropy at a division of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.[10] Makonnen founded Art All Night, an arts festival in Washington, D.C.[3] She worked as a contributing writer for HuffPost.[11]

Personal life

She met Prince Joel Dawit Makonnen, a great-grandson of the last Emperor of Ethiopia,[12] at Pearl nightclub in Washington, D.C. in December 2005.[3][10][13] She and Prince Joel Dawit Makonnen got engaged in 2014.[14] The couple were married on September 9, 2017 in an Oriental Orthodox ceremony at Debre Genet Medhanealem Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church in Temple Hills, Maryland.[3][15] Makonnen converted to Ethiopian Orthodoxy shortly before the wedding.[5] The wedding was officiated by thirteen priests.[16] The couple were both crowned during the ceremony.[17] The reception was held at Foxchase Manor in Manassas, Virginia.[18] There were over three hundred guests at the wedding,[19] including Prince Ermias Sahle Selassie, Prince Paul Makonnen, Prince Phillip Makonnen, Prince Beedemariam Makonnen, Princess Mary Asfaw Wossen, Johnnetta Cole, Sharon Pratt, and Brandon Todd. The wedding festivities lasted five days, from September 5 until September 10.[5]

After the Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, media outlets began listing Makonnen along with Princess Angela of Liechtenstein, Princess Keisha Omilana, Princess Sikhanyiso Dlamini of Swaziland, and others as modern examples of black royal women.[20][21]

References

  1. ↑ http://littleethiopia.org/blog/royal-wedding-ethiopian-prince-joel-dawit-makonnen-haile-selassie-married-ms-ariana-joy-lalita-austin-on-sunday-september-9th
  2. ↑ Swietek, Wes (26 October 2017). "Royal wedding had Bowling Green link". Kentucky New Era. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "She Met Her Prince (for Real!) at a D.C. Nightclub".
  4. ↑ Hurd, Gordon (14 October 2017). "Bride met her 'Prince Charming' — as in actual royalty — in a Washington, D.C., nightclub". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 "Go Inside Prince Yoel of Ethiopia and Ariana Austin's Royal Wedding".
  6. ↑ "GWYNN GARNETT DIES". 23 November 1995 – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  7. ↑ "Inside Prince Yoel of Ethiopia and Ariana Austin's Royal Wedding".
  8. ↑ Dawson, James (17 October 2017). "African Prince Finds Himself An American Princess". LADbible. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  9. ↑ Boucher, Phil (20 October 2017). "American Woman Marries African Prince She Met in D.C. Bar, Lives the Movie Coming to America". People. Meredith Corporation. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  10. 1 2 "An American woman married an Ethiopian prince she met in a nightclub — and the photos are magical".
  11. ↑ "Ariana Austin - HuffPost". www.huffingtonpost.com.
  12. ↑ Matera, Avery. "Royal Wedding Gowns Through the Years, in Honor of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Wedding". Teen Vogue. Condé Nast. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  13. ↑ "Girl Marries Prince: Real Life 'Coming To America' Story". 18 October 2017.
  14. ↑ Murphy, Carrie (18 October 2017). "An American Woman Met An Ethiopian Prince At A Bar—And They Had Quite The Lavish Wedding". simplemost. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  15. ↑ Masigan, Sammie (25 October 2017). "American Harvard Graduate Is Now Princess Of Ethiopia". LifeStyleAsia. Retrieved 6 August 2018. /
  16. ↑ Thompson, Desire (18 October 2017). "Woman Becomes Princess After Marrying African Prince She Met At A Nightclub". VIBE. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  17. ↑ Embury-Dennis, Tom (17 October 2017). "American woman marries Ethiopian prince she met in nightclub". The Independent. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  18. ↑ "Wedding of Haile Selassie's great-grandson sees union of Ethiopian, Guyanese heritages". Stabroek News. 14 October 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  19. ↑ Mckenzie, Joi-Marie (19 October 2017). "How this bride found out her husband is a real-life Ethiopian prince". ABC News. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  20. ↑ Wade, Valerie. "Does Meghan Markle Need to Be the Black Princess You Want Her to Be?".
  21. ↑ "Is the royal wedding a cause for feminist celebration or condemnation? Yes".
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