The Hungarian girl who wanted to become the Queen of the Albanians

During the war, the family lived in France, then in England, in the Ritz Hotel, and could not return to Albania, which was declared People’s Socialist Republic of Albania after the war. Between 1946 and 1955 Zogu, Geraldine, and Leka settled in Alexandria, on the invitation of the Egyptian king, Faruk I. In 1955 they moved to Paris, where they lived until Zogu’s death in 1961. After the sad incident Albanians referred to Geraldine as ‘Queen Mother’. She moved to Madrid and her son regarded himself as the king of Albania, but they could not return to the communist empire of Enver Hoxha, who kept aloof from everything and everyone. Their next stop was South Africa in 1979, where Leka established a trading house.

Geraldine, Leka and his wife, and Geraldine’s grandson, who was also called Leka, were able to return to Albania in the summer of 2002, after a change in the law. The old queen still regarded her son as the legal heir to the throne. Geraldine had a lung disease; according to the doctors, it was just because of her moving to Tirana. She passed away in the same year, on the 22th of October, at the age of 87. In the previous five months she had three heart attacks, the last of which was fatal. She was buried four days later in a communal churchyard – later she was re-buried to the royal mausoleum of Tirana.

In 2015, in Appony, a plaque was dedicated for her. Skender Zogu, the king’s nephew whom Geraldine met during the years spent in exile also took part in this ceremony, and said in his speech that he knew Geraldine as a helpful and good-hearted person, who kept her Catholic faith until her death. Her marriage became only possible with the Pope’s permission. She always turned towards people with love – Skender Zogu said. Leka II got married last year, as we have also reported.

“She lived in Albania for one year, but our nation remembers her till this day, we can thank her many things.” This was said by the Albanian ambassador in Budapest, Arian Spasse, in October in the Hungarian National Museum. In the institute, an exhibition was opened about the Queen who died 15 years ago. The timing is interesting especially since Albania became independent 105 years ago, and the Albanian-Hungarian diplomatic relations can be dated back to 95 years ago. On the exhibition, you can find contemporary news reports and photos of the wedding, and three objects as well, but it is worth seeing it anyway. The exhibition can be visited until the 7^th of January in 2018.

Featured image: Wiki Commons By I panjohur

Source: mno.hu