British intelligence documents of the period described Lul Seged as "one of the ablest men in Abyssinia", but identified him as one of the main opponents of European influence on the country.
[7] In common with others of his class Lul Seged sought to increase his influence through marriage, and late in life he married Menen Asfaw, later the wife of Tafari Makonnen (Haile Selassie), with the approval of her grandfather Negus Mikael.
[8] After Ras Tessema's death in 1911, Lul Seged was appointed regent by Menelik's heir Iyasu, in the process making an enemy of Minister of War Habte Giyorgis.
Iyasu was deposed on 27 September 1916 by a council of nobles and clergy, who installed Menelik's daughter Zewditu as Empress and nominated Lul Seged's rival, Tafari, as her heir apparent.
However, Lul Seged's vastly outnumbered army was practically wiped out a day later in a furious action at Tora Mesk after it tried to stop Fitawrari Sirah Bazu's troops, supporting Mikael, from taking Ankober.
Wilfred Thesiger, who lived in Addis Ababa in 1916, later recalled both the "wailing" at the news of Lul Seged's defeat, and seeing the victory parade after Segale: "The most moving moment of that wildly exciting day was when the drums suddenly stopped and in utter silence a few hundred men in torn, white everyday clothes came slowly down the long avenue of waiting troops led by a young boy.