His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie, President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia, is the only son of His late Imperial Highness Prince Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie and Her Imperial Highness Princess Mahzente Hapte-Mariam. The late Prince Sahle-Selassie was the youngest son of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I and Empress Menen of Ethiopia. Prince Ermias in many ways represents the unity of Ethiopia: he is of Amhara, Oromo and Guragé background.

Prince Ermias was born in Addis Ababa on June 14, 1960, and lived in Ethiopia for a considerable part of his early life, where he underwent his primary education. He continued his studies at the Old Ride Preparatory School, and then at Haileybury College, in England. He undertook a BA in social studies, with an emphasis on economics, at the University of California in Santa Barbara, from 1978 to 1981, and continued his education at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy between 1983 and 1985.

His Imperial Highness is the father of twin sons — Princes Sahle-Selassie (Christian) and Fesseha Tsion (Rufael) — born on February 20, 1992.

Prince Ermias has a diverse professional background, and has been deeply involved in the development and institutionalisation of democratic principles and market economic philosophies in Africa, particularly in the Horn of Africa. He is a vocal member of the expatriate Ethiopian community in the United States and actively follows issues related to the Horn of Africa.

In 1993, Prince Ermias was invested, in exile, as the President of the Ethiopian Crown Council, the body which acts during an interregnum as the custodian of the Crown, and which, during the reign of an Emperor, acts as the principal advisory council to the Crown. The appointment was made by Emperor Amha Selassie I. Since this appointment, Prince Ermias has travelled extensively and met with a dozen Heads-of-State promoting the welfare of Ethiopia and Ethiopians. In 1998, he briefed the United States Congress on two occasions regarding the prospects for peace in the Horn of Africa. This included a special briefing to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on October 14, 1998.

In 1997, His Highness was named recipient of the ISSA Silver Star Award for Outstanding Contributions to Strategic Progress Through Humanitarian Achievement by the worldwide NGO, the International Strategic Studies Association, for his work for Ethiopian refugees in Africa.

Prince Ermias serves, on the Board of Directors for Tuition Credit Exchange Inc., a US-based organisation which helps facilitate education. He has served as Chairman of the Advisory Board of Bezant Corporation, as well as Patron of the Haile Selassie Fund for Ethiopia’s Children, Inc., a US-based non-profit charitable trust which raises funds for causes which aid Ethiopian children.

In 2003 Prince Ermias was named to the Board of Directors of the National Slavery Museum. At a ceremony in Manchester Cathedral, in the United Kingdom, on October 23, 2010, Prince Ermias was formally installed as Grand Patron of the Apostolic Order of St. Hadrian of Canterbury. 

Prince Ermias is fluent in Amharic, English and German, and lectures and travels frequently on Ethiopian issues to help the process of the restoration of democracy under a Constitutional Monarchy in his country.