father on 12 September 1974 until the abolition of the monarchy in March 1975. Amha Selassie had been out of the country for medical treatment when the coup occurred, and he never returned during his lifetime. Haile Selassie had never signed an abdication or renounced his status as Emperor. The military junta declared the Crown Prince "King" instead of "Emperor", but he never acknowledged the title nor accepted his father's dethronement. When the new government massacred 61 ex-officials of the Imperial government, Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen issued a strong denunciation that was broadcast on the BBC. The statement was issued in the name of "Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen" which indicated that he did not recognize the Derg's declaration of him as monarch in his father's place. He continued to use the title of Crown Prince during his exile until April 1989, when he finally assumed the title of Emperor with the regnal name of Amha Selassie I. His succession was back-dated, not to 12 September 1974, when his father was deposed, but to 27 August 1975, when his father died. He reiterated his view that all of the Derg regime's acts were illegitimate and illegal. Life in exile On 12 September 1974, the Derg military junta deposed Emperor Haile Selassie and declared that Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen would be anointed "King" upon his return from medical treatment in Geneva, Switzerland. It intended for Asfaw to rule as a constitutional monarch. However, the prince did not recognize this proclamation and did not return to Ethiopia. When he instead announced to the Ethiopian Embassy in London that he would be moving to that city shortly, the Embassy asked the Derg for instructions as to whether it should receive him as a king and head-of-state, or if it should receive him as crown prince upon his arrival in the United Kingdom. The Derg replied that he should be received as a simple citizen of Ethiopia and that no royal dignities were to be accorded to the prince or his family. The revolutionaries soon abolished the monarchy in March 1975, and crown prince Asfaw Wossen settled permanently in London, where several other members of the imperial family were already based. The other members of the imperial family who were still in Ethiopia at the time of the revolution were imprisoned, including Asfaw Wossen's father, the emperor, his daughter by his first marriage, Princess Ijigayehu,