One of her attempts to defend her position was to write letters to the churches in Addis Ababa complaining about the treacherous move against her "at a time when she was busy with the Emperor's health." She also tried to get representatives of the European missions to recognize her as regent instead of the Prime Minister, Ras Hailu, and to present all matters to her, but they did not respond to her request for support. Later, her recourse to foreign missions was criticized as a request for foreign intervention in the country's internal affairs. The opposition of the "Shawayeen" to Empress Taitu intensified in 1910. They approached Abuna Mathews, the Archbishop of the Orthodox Church, and convinced him to support them. Thus, Taitu had no choice but to request to remain in the palace to care for her sick husband. After his death in 1918, she retired to one of the monasteries. The departure of Empress Taitu and the death of the Regent, Ras Tesemma, marked the end of the last obstacles to Lij Iyasu's accession to the throne, although his grandfather, Emperor Menelik, was still alive. It can be said that Lij Iyasu's ascension to the imperial throne was a natural outcome and the end of a series of relationships between the rulers of the Amhara and Tigray empires and the Oromo ("Galla") peoples, who, through successive migrations, succeeded in settling and dominating the central plateau in a strip extending from the Afar plains in the east to the sources of Lake Tana in the west, and extending north to the kingdom of Tigray and south to the kingdom of Shewa. The Oromo played a significant role in this region, which became known as "Wollo" with its capital Dessie. Their numbers grew, making the empire's rulers inclined to appease and win them over. In the 18th and 19th centuries, they constituted half the population of Abyssinia. Their power increased after they embraced Islam. Due to their ethnic and religious affiliation, they were subjected to harsh campaigns of extermination and persecution, especially during the reigns of Tewodros (1855-1868) and Yohannes (1872-1889). They were removed from positions of power and forced to convert. Lij Iyasu was born in Tanta, Egypt, in 1895, following the custom of princesses of the ruling family in Abyssinia to go to the centers of the Coptic Church and have their newborns blessed there. He spent several years in Tanta, where he grew up. Tanta was one of these centers. His father, Ras Muhammad Ali, was the governor of the "Wollo" province, inhabited by Muslim Oromo, from the last quarter of the 19th century. He learned French and Arabic.