Born April 20th 1951, Taytu is the daughter of Crown Prince Yohannes and Elani Eman. Her older brother is former Emperor Sahle and her younger brother is the current Emperor Yaqob. She went to boarding school and later college in Austria, where she spent time with a small clique of liberal minded scions of old German families.
After the death of her father, her brother Sahle became Emperor, and the events of his reign took place while she was still in Austria. She was joined by her mother during the course of the Civil War, which ended with her brother Yaqob coming to power. She and her mother returned home and Taytu accepted an appointment as Yaqob's Foreign Affairs Advisor.
Her tenor in that job has included presiding over her brother's decision to purchase and free the German colonies, and as an ambassador at the short-lived Esfahan conference. She briefly reigned in the place of her brother as his regent while he was recovering from a failed assassination attempt.
Taytu has been a outspoken critic of the Ethiopian commander and chief Ras Hassan. After his use of tribal natives in Katanga as bait during the Katanga Rebellion, she adopted one of their orphaned children who's arm had been hacked off by the Ras as part of the bait. The child, Olivier Gezi, is a quiet and reserved boy.
After the Spanish landed off the Ethiopian coast in 1980, Taytu went to Tanganyika to make assurances about their alliance with Ethiopia. Upon landing she was arrested and hidden away by the government who planned on cancelling their alliance despite the unhappiness of the people.