Royal Family Of Albania

[hillary_nugent]

Wow that is very interesting Australian!!! thanks for the article :)

[Australian]

Would-be Queen Susan dies uncrowned

By Tony Stephens
July 19, 2004





Royal dream ... Susan Cullen Ward with her husband King Leka. She was regarded by Albanian monarchists as Queen Susan.




Susan, the woman raised in the central western town of Cumnock who became the wife of Leka, the pretender to the Albanian throne, died on Saturday in Albania.

"Her Majesty Susan I Zog is no longer with us," spokesman Fluturak Germenji announced in Tirana, the capital.

He said she had died from a heart condition although a brother, John Cullen Ward, said in Forster that his sister was being treated for cancer. She was 63.

Born Susan Barbara Cullen Ward, she married King Leka in Biarritz in 1975 after meeting him at a Sydney dinner party.

Barry Everingham, a commentator on royal families who has represented Leka and Susan in Australia, said the marriage was a "love match" and King Leka would be devastated. However, in many ways, she had led a sad life, moving from one country to another while her husband tried in vain to capture the crown once worn by his father, King Zog.

Susan, one of five children, attended the Presbyterian Ladies College in Orange, where she later taught art.

Her marriage at 34 to Leka followed a failed first union. Guests at the wedding shouted "Long live the king!", then acknowledged the Spanish dictator, "Long Live Franco!"


King Zog fled with his wife, Geraldine, two-day-old son Leka, and some of the Albanian treasury when Benito Mussolini, the Italian fascist dictator, occupied Albania in World War II.

After Zog died in 1961, monarchist emigres declared Leka their king at the Bristol Hotel in Paris.

Leka denied being on the CIA payroll in the late 1960s and early 1970s and Susan later denied another common allegation, that her husband was an arms dealer.

The couple lived in Madrid until Spain expelled them when an arms cache was found at their home. He had been arrested earlier in Thailand on charges of arms smuggling.

Leka and Susan went to Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, until the whites lost power, and then to South Africa, where they lost diplomatic favours after Nelson Mandela won office.

Australian authorities refused to recognise Susan as a queen but, in a compromise when Andrew Peacock was foreign minister, issued a passport in the name of "Susan Cullen Ward, known as Queen Susan".

Leka and Susan returned to Albania a few years after communism crumbled in 1990. They were ordered out by the first democratically-elected president, Sali Berisha.

They went back in 1997, when Leka lost a referendum on the monarchy that he claimed was manipulated.

Maureen Cullen Ward, a cousin, said yesterday: "Susan was very nice, very clever, cool and with a great sense of humour."

Mr Everingham said: "She was a woman of great dignity who became enamoured by her husband's dream to return to the monarchy."

[galuhcandrakirana]

Thanks for the article Australian, its very interesting. Queen Susan was a beautiful woman indeed. I guessed her life was not very easy by Leka's situation.

[daydream]

After reading the posted messages regarding the above, I am quite surprised to find a number of discrepancies (apart from the cut/pasted articles - which are correct). My husband's grandfather was King Zog's personnal bodyguard and fled Albania the same night as the Royal group.
It is wonderful to see so many people interested in this line, but a shame that so much information is incorrect. We have researched the story of King Zog, including his time in exile, and it is a very traumatic, yet amazing story.
If there is anything anyone would like to know, please ask and I will try to answer.
A book on King Zog and his family is being written by a friend of mine and will be available in 2008. I am currently working on an informative website on them, which will include unseen photographs and documents; this will be available shortly. In 2008, there will be an exhibition at Parmoor House, Bucks, which is where King Zog and his family and entourage stayed for a number of years, which I am currently working on for 2008.
With reference to the inaccuracies already posted I would like to amend them:
King Zog was not a pretender - his uncle was a long reigning chieftan of the region of Mati - (chieftan meaning ruler, to us in Western Europe, king-like ruler) and his line refers back many hundreds of years as ruling areas in the north of Albania. He was officially 'crowned' (which the Western europe 'recognise as ruling as a king) by the people of Albania, because they wanted it that way, not because he wanted to crown himself.
Also, King Zog remained Muslim, and Queen Geraldine remained Catholic throughout their marriage. Their religions ran alongside each other in harmony.
King Leka was educated all over the world including Paris and Switzerland. He lived in Rhodesia and has now returned to Tirana in Albania. His mother is buried in Albania.
King Leka's aim is to exhume the bodies of his father and the entourage (including my husbands grandfather) who are all buried in the royal plot at Suresnes, Paris. He believes that they should be returned to their homeland.

I do hope that this helps a little. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. I will post news of the website path when it is ready.

JB

[Benjamin]

Thanks for all the information daydream.

Do you know if King Leka still has a house in South Africa?

Also, does the king have any ties with the Albanian Legality Party?

[daydream]

Not sure if there is still a house in SA, but I would presume so, as its still rather dicey for them in Albania, so its probably their Plan B!!
King Leka is still involved in the Legality Party - details can be found if googled.

JB

xx

[Benjamin]

Thanks for your help daydream :). Are there any books that you would recommend about the Albanian Royals? I'm trying to get ahold of Geraldine's authorized biography but as of yet haven't gotten it.

[Royalist0007]

The Royal Family of Albania are Muslims like most people in Albania,Kosovo,& Bosnia-Hercegovina are.Although King Leka spent most of his life in South Africa,he did spend a short period in the rebel British colony of Rhodesia after it had unilaterally declared independence.

In addition to Albanian,King Leka speaks English,albeit,with a heavily-accented voice because of his upbringing in South Africa.

The Legality Movement Party is still a very active organisation in Albania.However,it is not the only Royalist organisation in the Balkans.

[Benjamin]

Here is a link to a blog that had some photos of King Zog with his sisters: http://blogs.20minutos.es/bobpop/pos...rey-zog-y-zogu
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Link to pictures from a reception in honor of the 107th anniversary of the birth of King Zog I. Geraldine and both Lekas are pictured: http://albania.dyndns.org/Presse/Le%...2/08102002.htm

[Benjamin]

Troubled Albania Visited By Its Long-Exiled King - New York Times (April 13, 1997)

[Next Star]

I heard about the Albanian royal family and watched tape too. From what I have heard the late King Zog and the late Queen Geraldine had two differrent wedding one catholic and the other muslim. But I could be wrong. It is also sad to hear Queen Susan had almost a year ago she was still fairly young. My symapathies to her family and those who supported her and her family as being reinstated as the Albanian royal family and Albania becoming a monarchy again.

[Manuel Moras]

Hi everybody

I'm new here but I'm very interested in the life of King Leka ( the one who lived in south afria, was arrested once in Thailand and was said to be a gunrunner and a CIA-man). As far as I know there's no biography available. Please help me because I'd love to read more about this fascinating character. Are there any books who deal with his life particulary. I've recently heard about the "King Zog" book written by Jason Tomes but I'm not sure if there's also written something about his son's life in this edition and if it's worth to buy it. Does somebody knows the book ?
Are there any other books ( maybe in German, Spanish, English, Italian or French ? )

Wath happened to the book who was anounced in this forum ( the one from the bodyguard ) Will it be still published ? Are there more news and will it also deal with the life of king Zog's son ?

Please help me because it's pretty hard to find stuff about this person.

Thank you very much

Manuel

[davidkartas]

Good day.Im new here and a suporter of the house of Zog in many ways-I also have or had one of the bigest zog pic colections,if I'd only find a good uploading service,i'd put it up.

[Warren]

There are plenty of good (and free) image-hosting sites available on the internet, eg Photobucket, Imageshack, Tinypic etc etc. Just Google 'image hosting'.

[AlbEagle]

Wow. I'm surprised for such interest about the Albanian Royal Family. That is because I'm Albanian too. But unfortunately the only members of the Royal Family today are the King Leka of the Albanians and his son Prince Leka. Today they live in Tirana, Albania.

By the way, is there any other Albanian member on this forum??

[principessa]

Does anyone know if the following link is the official site of the royal family of Albania?

Albanie royale

[AlbEagle]

Principessa,
No, it's not. This one is the real official site of the royal family of Albania.
Mireserdhet ne faqen zyrtare te Familjes Mbreterore Shqiptare

Enjoy!

[iakynthi]

It's the first time I hear that Albania has a royal family.Can anyone explain to us the background of this family?Are their ancestors well known royals?Does their bloodline date back in history?Thanks in advance!

[Warren]

Originally Posted by iakynthi

It's the first time I hear that Albania has a royal family.

Where have you been iakynthi? Have a read through this thread, and the Wiki entry on King Zog.

[iakynthi]

Hi,Warren!Thanks for the link.I was really curious.Well,I just finished it and realised that it doesn't surprise me at all:Mr.Zog has no royal background......I thought so