Queen Geraldine of Albania

IN THE 1930s King Zog of Albania was looking for a wife. Such vacancies were not uncommon among the royal families of Europe, where 17 countries were still ruled, at least nominally, by a monarch, and many others had claimants to the throne. To be queen of Albania was perhaps not the first choice of a woman seeking a royal career; Britain would have been better, but Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee, seemed all set for the queen's job there (until the king spoiled everything by abdicating). If Albania had any particular appeal it could be that so insignificant a country could hardly be coveted by the competing ideologies in Europe of fascism and communism.

Geraldine Apponyi de Nagi-Appony, a Hungarian countess, mulled over such matters when she received a visit in 1937 from a sister of King Zog. Her brother had seen a photograph of Geraldine. Why didn't she visit Albania and have a look round? The prospect of marriage seems not to have been mentioned at this meeting. It did not have to be. It was well known that Zog was seeking a bride with a big income and of good breeding.

Geraldine had the breeding, but she had little money. Her father had married an heiress from Virginia, introducing an American strain into the Hungarian family: Geraldine was a very distant cousin of Richard Nixon. But whatever money the marriage yielded had now gone. Geraldine was earning a living as a shorthand-typist, a skill her practical-minded mother had insisted she acquire.

But when Zog met Geraldine in December 1937, money no longer seemed important. He proposed after a few days. Geraldine was less smitten. She was 22, he was 42 and looked older. (Our picture shows the couple in 1960.) Nevertheless, she praised him for having “maturity and authority” and the marriage was on. The wedding was held in Tirana, the Albanian capital, in the following April. Hitler's present was a red Mercedes. The regent of Hungary sent a carriage and four horses, a vehicle more suited to Albania's primitive roads. Mussolini's present was a few copper saucepans. He wasn't too pleased about the marriage.

How to spend it

Albania might be a poor thing, but Mussolini fancied it for his own, seeing the country as a stepping stone to the more glorious prize of Greece. He had watched with interest Zog's rise to power, from tribal leader to politician to dictator and self-proclaimed king. Mussolini had provided Zog with money to develop the country and ease poverty. Marriage to an Italian would, he believed, confirm Albania as a dependency. Now Zog had not only married his Geraldine but was spending huge amounts of Italian money to keep her in luxury. Although she spent only 354 days as queen in Albania, her besotted husband saw that she lived in a style to remember. In April 1939 she rewarded him with an heir, Leka, who took the title of crown prince. Eleven days later Italy invaded Albania, complaining that Zog was misusing Italian money.

The king, queen and their prince fled to Greece. Zog's last words broadcast to the Albanians was to “fight to the last drop of blood to defend our independence”. Commentators at the time wondered why Zog had not accepted Italian suzerainty and kept his throne. But Zog believed, probably correctly, that his life was threatened, not just by Mussolini, but by enemies from his tribal days. He was said to have survived 55 assassination attempts. His mother claimed that he had thwarted an attempt to poison him.

What do royals do when they are made redundant? Money is often the main problem. Geraldine was tempted by an offer from Hollywood to make a film of her romance, but Zog assured her that, before they left Albania, he had deposited enough money in overseas accounts to provide for the family's life in exile. During the second world war they lived in Britain, at first at the Ritz hotel in London and then in a rented stately home. After the war they lived in Egypt as a guest of King Farouk until he was deposed in 1952, when they moved to Paris.

After Zog died in 1961 Geraldine turned her attention to the future of her son Leka. In a hotel room in Paris he was formally consecrated king of the Albanians. In 1993, after the country had thrown off more than four decades of communist rule, Leka returned to the country of his birth to claim the throne, and was promptly thrown out. In 1997, accompanied by his mother, he was received courteously and a referendum was held on whether the monarchy should be restored. Leka lost, but not overwhelmingly. A surprising 30% of Albanians voted in favour. The relatively successful reign of King Zog seemed to have passed into folk memory. Many in the poverty-stricken country, caught up in the quarrels of its Balkan neighbours, believed that a monarchy would provide peace and prosperity.

In the last months of her life Geraldine settled in Albania; not in Zog's old palace, but in a decent sized house. With her were the others in the “royal” family, her son Leka, who still calls himself king, his Australian wife Susan and their son, also called Leka. A story that belonged to another age had a sort of happy ending.