Buckingham Palace refused a request from the relatives of a 19th-century Ethiopian prince to return his remains on Tuesday.
Prince Alemayehu was seized by the British Army at seven and sent to England in 1868, arriving as an orphan when his mother died en route.
He spent the next decade in Britain and was well-liked by Queen Victoria, who paid for his schooling until his death from pneumonia at 18 in 1879.
He was reportedly interred in the catacombs of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, the royal home west of London, at Queen Victoria's request.
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Ethiopian politicians had previously demanded that his remains be returned to Ethiopia, and his family recently informed the BBC that they, too, have requested the repatriation.
"We want his remains back as a family and as Ethiopians because that is not the country he was born in," Fasil Minas, one of his ancestors, told the BBC.
He stated that the prince was "not right" to be buried in the United Kingdom.
However, Buckingham Palace regretted that it had not been feasible to agree to the request owing to the need to "preserve the dignity" of others buried at the chapel.
"The Dean and Canons of Windsor are very sensitive to the need to honour the memory of Prince Alemayehu," the statement said.
"However, they have been advised that exhuming the remains without disturbing the resting place of a significant number of others in the vicinity is extremely unlikely."
According to the statement, officials have approved requests from Ethiopian delegations to visit St George's in prior years and "will continue to do so."
