The Prince and the Plunder: How Britain took one small boy and hundreds of treasures from Ethiopia

At the dawn of 1868, Britain invaded Ethiopia with 13,000 soldiers and a crack unit of collectors, oddballs and boffins. As the troops advanced, the force's zoologists shot and stuffed anything that moved. Its archaeologists carried out a hit-and-run dig along the way. The British Museum librarian who was hitching a ride on the raid loaded up with crosses and crowns plundered during the mission's final battle. And a red-headed, 6-foot-6-inches intelligence officer called Captain Speedy picked up a young prince called Alamayu and took him back to England.

Andrew Heavens tells the story of what happened next to Prince Alamayu and tracks down the plunder – Ethiopia's 'Elgin Marbles' – in bank vaults, storerooms and a hidden cavity in Westminster Abbey. Part revisionist history, part treasure hunt, this is a tale for our time as we re-examine Britain's past, pull down statues of imperial grandees and look for other figures to commemorate and celebrate.