Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

Zog of Albania

Zog I, Skanderbeg III of the Albanians (born Ahmet Zogolli, later changed to Ahmet Zogu) (October 8, 1895 – April 9, 1961) was King of Albania from 1928 to 1939. He was previously Prime Minister of Albania (1922 - 1924) and President of Albania (1925 - 1928).

Background and early political career

Zog was born Ahmet Muhtar Bey Zogolli in Castle Burgajet, Albania, third son to Xhemal Pasha Zogolli and Sadijé Toptani. His family was a beylik family of landowners, with feudal authority over the region of Mati. His mother's Toptani family claimed to be descended from the line of Albania's greatest national hero, the 15th century general Skanderbeg, through the general's sister. Their lands were in the same districts as Skanderbeg's family's had been, and certainly the Zogu family had deep roots in indigenous clannish nobility. No historically-attested genealogy has been shown for this alleged lineage from the Middle Ages, although Zog's wife had a pedigree from Albania).

Zogolli was educated at Galatasaray College in Constantinople, then the seat of the decaying Ottomon Empire, which technically controlled Albania. Upon his father's death in 1911, Zogolli at age sixteen became governor of Mat. He was appointed over his elder brother Xhelal Bey, who had been deemed mentally unfit.

As a young man during the First World War, Zog volunteered on the side of Austria-Hungary, only one of the many European powers which sought to seize Albania from Ottoman control. He was detained at Vienna in 1917 and 1918 and in Rome in 1918 and 1919 before returning to Albania in 1919. During his time in Vienna, he grew to enjoy a Western European lifestyle, and was rumoured to be very popular among the Viennese women.

Upon his return, Zog became involved in the political life of the fledgling Albanian government that had been created in the wake of the First World War. He became leader of a major reformist party, and his political supporters included many southern feudal landowners (called beys, Turkish for "village chieftain", the social group to which he belonged) and noble families in the north, along with merchants, industrialists, and intellectuals. During the early 1920s, Zog served as Governor of Shkodër (1920-1), Minister of the Interior (March-November 1920, 1921-1924), and chief of the Albanian military (1921-1922). His primary rivals were Luigj Gurakuqi and Fan S. Noli.

In 1922, Zogolli formally changed his name from the Turkish "Zogolli" to Zog, which in the Albanian language means "bird."

It was a dangerous time to be an Albanian politician. In 1923, Zog was shot and wounded in Parliament. A crisis arose in 1924 after the assassination of one of Zog's industrialist opponents, Avni Rustemi; in the aftermath, a leftist revolt forced Zog, along with 600 of his allies, into exile in June 1924. He returned to Albania with the backing of Yugoslav forces and Yugoslavia-based White Russian troops, and became Prime Minister.

President of Albania

Zog was officially elected to the post of President of Albania by the Constituent Assembly on January 21, 1925, taking office on February 1. Zog's government followed the European model, though large parts of Albania still maintained a social structure unchanged from the days of Ottoman rule, and most villages were serf plantations run by the Beys. A Muslim himself, Zog's reforms included the prohibition of veils and prohibitions against cruelty to animals. Zog's principal ally during this period was Italy, which loaned his government funds in exchange for a greater role in Albania's fiscal policy. During Zog's presidency, serfdom was gradually eliminated. For the first time since the death of Skanderbeg, Albania began to emerge as a nation, rather than a feudal patchwork of local Beyliks. His administration was marred by disputes with Kosovar leaders, primarily Hasan Prishtina and Bajram Curri.

During his presidency, many referred to him as "King", as they had no idea what the word "President" meant.

Albanian King

On September 1, 1928 Zogu was crowned King of the Albanians (Mbret i Shqiptarëve in Albanian). Afterwards he was also declared Field Marshal of the Royal Albanian Army on September 1, 1928. He proclaimed a constitutional monarchy similar to the contemporary regime in Italy. He created a strong police force and instituted the Zogist salute (flat hand over the heart with palm facing downwards). He claimed to be a successor of Skanderbeg, a lineage which was correct to an extent. Zog hoarded gold coins and precious stones, which were used to back Albania's first paper currency.

Zog's mother, Sadijé, was declared Queen Mother of Albania, and Zog also gave his brother and sisters Royal status as Prince and Princesses Zogu. One of his sisters, Senijé, Princess Zogu (1897-1969), married His Imperial Highness Prince Shehzade Mehmed Abid Efendi of Turkey, a son of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Zog attempted to further reinforce his regime's legitimacy by ruling as a constitutional monarch. His kingdom's constitution forbade any Prince of the Royal House from serving as Prime Minister or a member of the Cabinet and contained provisions for the potential extinction of the Royal Family. Ironically, in light of later events, the constitution also forbade the union of the Albanian throne with that of any other country. Under the Zogist constitution, the King of the Albanians, like the King of the Belgians, exercised Royal powers only after taking an oath before Parliament; Zog himself swore an oath on the Bible and the Qur'an (the king being Muslim) in an attempt to unify the country.

In 1929, King Zog abolished Islamic law in Albania, adopting in its place a civil code based on the Swiss one, in the same manner that happened in Ataturk’s Turkey in the same decade.

Zog's regime brought stability to Albania and the King organized an educational system. He also attempted to modernize the Albanian military, though the costs involved in this project were high. He also tried to alter the ethnic character of the Greek minority. Under King Zog, the Greek villages suffered considerable repression, including the forcible closure of Greek-language schools in 1933-1934 and the ordering of Greek Orthodox monasteries to accept mentally sick individuals as inmates.

Life as King

Although born as an aristocrat and hereditary Bey, King Zog was somewhat ignored by other monarchs in Europe because he had no links to European royal bloodlines, although he did have strong connections with Muslim royal families in the Middle East and Egypt. However, as King, he was honored by the governments of Italy, Luxembourg, Egypt, Yugoslavia, France, Romania, Greece, Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Austria. In the absence of nightclubs or theatre in Tirana, the King spent much of his time playing poker, usually with his sisters. He was also addicted to perfumed cigarettes, and smoked about 150 a day. His household expenses made up nearly 2% of the national budget.

Zog had been engaged to the daughter of Shefqet Bey Verlaci before he became King. Soon after his coronation, however, he broke off the engagement. According to traditional customs of blood vengeance prevalent in Albania at the time, Verlaci had the right to kill Zog. The King made more than a few enemies - rumour had it that he was the subject of over 600 blood vendettas in addition to Verlaci's - and he frequently surrounded himself with a personal guard and avoided public appearances. He also feared that he might be poisoned, so the Queen Mother assumed supervision of the Royal Kitchen.

During his reign he is said to have survived over 55 assassination attempts. One of these occurred in 1931 while Zog was visiting a Vienna opera house for a performance of Pagliacci. The attackers struck whilst Zog was getting into his car, and he survived by drawing his own pistol (which he always carried) and firing back at his would-be assassins. This is the only occasion in modern history when a Head of State has returned fire with potential assassins.

In April 1938, Zog married Countess Geraldine Apponyi de Nagy-Apponyi, a Roman Catholic aristocrat who was half-Hungarian and half-American. Their only child, HRH Crown Prince Leka, was born in Albania on April 5, 1939.

Relations with Italy

The fascist government of Benito Mussolini's Italy had supported Zog since early in his presidency; that support leading to increased Italian influence in Albanian affairs. The Italians compelled Zog to refuse to renew the First Treaty of Tirana (1926), although Zog still retained British officers in the Gendarmerie as a counterbalance against the Italians, who had pressured Zog to remove them.

During the worldwide depression of the early 1930s, Zog's government became almost completely dependent on Mussolini (to the point that the Albanian national bank had its seat in Rome). Grain had to be imported from abroad and many Albanians emigrated and Italian settlers were allowed to settle in Albania. In 1932 and 1933, Albania was unable to pay the interest payments on its loans from the Society for the Economic Development of Albania, and the Italians used this as a pretext for further dominance. They demanded that Tirana put Italians in charge of the Gendarmerie, join Italy in a customs union, and grant the Italian Kingdom control of Albania's sugar, telegraph, and electrical monopolies. Finally, Italy called for the Albanian government to establish teaching of the Italian language in all Albanian schools, a demand that was swiftly refused by Zog. In defiance of Italian demands, he ordered for the national budget to be slashed by 30 percent, dismissed all Italian military advisers, and nationalized Italian-run Roman Catholic schools in the north of Albania to decrease Italian influence on the population of Albania. In 1934 he tried without success to build ties with France, Germany, and the Balkan states, and Albania drifted back into the Italian orbit.

Two days after the birth of his son and heir, on Good Friday - April 7, 1939, Mussolini's Italy invaded; Albania's small army were no match for them. The Royal family realising correctly that their lives were in danger fled into exile. "Oh God, it was so short," were King Zog’s last words to Geraldine on Albanian soil. Count Ciano, the Italian Foreign Minister, arrived the following day; on searching the Palace in Tirana he found the 'labour room' in the Queen's suite; seeing a pile of linen on the floor, stained by the afterbirth, he kicked it across the room. "The cub has escaped!" he said.

Mussolini declared Albania a protectorate under Italy's King Victor Emmanuel III. Zog and his family were forced into exile.

While in France, the Royal Family survived a German air raid during the invasion, reputedly because the entourage was travelling in a Mercedes-Benz identical to Adolf Hitler's (in fact it had been a wedding present from the German dictator). The effect of this was that none of the bombers had the nerve to fire on a car identical to the Führer's.

Former crown prince

Prior to the birth of Prince Leka, the position of Heir Presumptive was held by Prince Tati Esad Murad Kryziu, the son of the King's sister, Princess Nafisa. He was born 24 December 1923 in Tirana. He became honorary General of the Royal Albanian Army in 1928, at age five. He was made Heir Presumptive with the style of His Highness and title of "Prince of Kosova" (Princ i Kosoves) in 1931. After the Royal House's exile, he moved to France, where he died in August 1993.

Life in exile

The royal family settled in England, first at The Ritz in London, then moving for a very short period in 1941 to Ascot in Berkshire, (near his nieces who were at school in Ascot), and then in 1941 to Parmoor House, Parmoor, near Frieth, in Buckinghamshire with some staff of the court living in locations around Lane End. He was an occasional guest at Claridge's on Brook Street in Mayfair. He once talked of using part of his huge fortune to buy The Times, telling Auberon Herbert: "I won't give a penny more than ten million for it". Records of his conversations with friends and family indicate that he wished to set up a feudal kingdom outside Albania if he was not restored to the throne.

In 1951, he bought the Knollwood estate in Muttontown, New York, for approximately $102,800, though some stories claim that he bought the mansion for a bucket of diamonds and rubies. The sixty-room estate was described as a castle. Zog intended Knollwood to be his kingdom-in-exile, staffed by loyal Albanian subjects, but he never moved into the mansion. The house was never used and Zog sold the estate in 1955, by which point vandals had done over $8,000 worth of damage, apparently hunting for treasure in his absence. The mansion was later further vandalized and parts of it have since been torn down. Ruins of this mansion can still be seen deep in the woods of Muttontown preserve, located on Route 106 in Muttontown, New York

When Zog briefly went to the United States, he wanted to bring along his Court, but the immigration authorities allowed only twenty members. Zog tried unsuccessfully to bribe the American Senate to permit the remainder to join him.

Zog finally chose to make his home in France, living the lifestyle favoured by exiled monarchs, that of the Riviera recluse. Zog passed away in Hospital Foch, Suresnes, Hauts-de-Seine, on April 9, 1961 at the age of 65 but had been seriously ill for some time. Allegedly his son and Albanian officers, who stayed with Zog in exile, had to use force to prevent the hospital staff bringing his body to the Chapel (Zog was a Muslim). He was survived by his wife and son. He is buried at the Thiais Cemetery in Paris.

On his death his son Leka was pronounced H.M. King Leka of the Albanians by the exiled Albanian community (which is why he was not called King of Albania).

His widow, HM Queen Geraldine, died of natural causes in 2002 at the age of 87 in a military hospital in Tirana, Albania.

Political legacy

During World War II, the royalist resistance in northern Albania was largely ineffective. While the Albanian establishment mostly opted for collaboration with the Italians and Germans, it was the partisans who took control of the country. They were able to defeat the last Nazi remnants, as the war ended.

Zog attempted to reclaim his throne after the war. Sponsored by the British, some forces loyal to Zog attempted to mount invasions but were continually ambushed due to intelligence sent to the Soviet Union by spy Kim Philby. However, Albania now had a communist government led by Enver Hoxha who remained in power for 45 years. A referendum in 1997 proposed to restore the monarchy in the person of Zog's son Leka Zogu (who since 1961 has been styled as Leka I, King of the Albanians). The official results stated that about two-thirds of voters favoured a continued republican government. On learning of the result HM King Leka attempted an armed uprising as he believed the result to be fraudulent. He was unsuccessful, however and was forced into exile, although he later returned and now lives in Tirana.

A main street in Tirana has since been re-named by the current Albanian government to "Boulevard Zog".

In popular culture

A character bearing a striking similarity to the king, appeared in the Tintin comic book series as King Muskar XII in King Ottokar's Sceptre.

In the fourth episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, the first sketch was noted as having been "specially written for the pubescence of Ex-King Zog of Albania." Other passing references to Zog became something of a running gag on the show.

In Ian Fleming's James Bond novel The Man With the Golden Gun, Francisco Scaramanga says that the Rastafarians of Jamaica owe their allegiance to the ruler of Ethiopia, who he identifies as "this King Zog or what-have-you." Actually, the monarch that Scaramanga had in mind was Haile Selassie.

The song Don Juan by British synth duo the Pet Shop Boys (the B-side to their 1988 single "Domino Dancing") contains the phrase "King Zog's back from holiday, Marie Lupescu's grey and King Alexander is dead in Marseilles".

The assassination attempt of 1931 was depicted in Aria (film) in 1987. Zog was played by Theresa Russell and the segment was directed by Nicolas Roeg.

Anecdotes

There are many anecdotes about King Zog:

The King's Chamberlain was instructed to accost well-heeled visitors to the local hotel in the capital Tirana with the demand that they attend a Royal audience, at which formal morning dress should be worn. The visitor would be referred to a local outfitter where they could buy the requisite clothes, although this turned out to be quite expensive. The subsequent audience at the palace would be brief and perfunctory. The outfitters was owned by King Zog.

After Italy's invasion of Albania in 1939, King Zog, having been exiled by Mussolini, set out with his retinue for the Ritz Hotel in London. The hall porter, surprised by the unusual weight of the king's cases, asked him whether they contained anything valuable. "Yes," Zog replied, "Gold."

Zog was described by British Conservative politician Julian Amery as the cleverest man he had ever met.

Aubrey Herbert who met him in 1913, when Zog was only eighteen, described him as "a reader of Shakespeare and a fine fighting man".

Zog was said to have regularly consumed 200 cigarettes a day giving him a possible claim to the dubious title of the world's heaviest smoker.

External links

References

Bernd Fischer - King Zog and the Struggle for Stability in Albania, (East European Monographs, Boulder, 1984.)
Jason Tomes - The Throne of Zog: Monarchy in Albania 1928-1939 (History Today September 2001)

Bibliography

Bernd Fischer - King Zog and the Struggle for Stability in Albania, (East European Monographs, Boulder, 1984.)
O.S. Pearson, Albania and King Zog, I.B. Tauris. 2005 (ISBN 1-84511-013-7).
Jason Tomes - King Zog, Self-Made Monarch of Albania, 2003 (ISBN 0-7509-3077-2).
Gwen Robyns - Geraldine of the Albanians ISBN 0-584-11133-9