Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Baptised as Askala Maryam, the future Zewditu was the eldest daughter of the then Negus Menelek of Shewa, the future emperor Menelek II of Ethiopia. Her mother, Weyziro Abechi, was a Shewan noblewoman and a brief companion of Menelek. Her mother had died when Askala Maryam was very young, and the future empress was raised by her father and his consort Baffana. Negus Menelik later married Taytu Betul, but had no children by this wife. Menelik had three acknowledged children: Zewditu herself, a son Asfaw Wossen who died in infancy, and another daughter Shewa Regga, the mother of Lij Iyasu, Menelik''s eventual heir. However, the Emperor remained closest to Zewditu, who also had good relations with her stepmother Empress Taytu, and was part of her father''s household for most of her life.