(Redirected from Ahmet Zogu)
'Zog I, Skanderbeg III'
[1] [2] [3] of
Albania (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 between
1922 and
1924 and
President of Albania between
1925 and
1928.
Background and early political career
Born as ''Ahmet Muhtar Bey Zogolli'', he changed his family name to Zogu, meaning "
bird" in the
Albanian language, dropping the Turkish suffix "olli (oğlu)", meaning "son of".
Ahmet Zogolli was born in
Castle Burgajet, Albania, third son to
Xhemal Pasha Zogolli and
Sadijé Toptani. Zog was educated at
Galatasaray College in
Istanbul [3]. His family was a
beylik family, with feudal authority over the region of
Mati. The family claimed descent from
Skanderbeg. 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 his alleged lineage from the Middle Ages, although his wife has a
pedigree from Albania).
Upon his father's death in
1911, Ahmet 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 supported the cause of
Austria-Hungary. 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
1920. 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.
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 opponent,
Avni Rustemi (the man who in 1920 assassinated Esad Pasha Toptani); in the aftermath, a
leftist revolt was raised by Noli, which forced Zog, along with 600 of his allies, into exile in June
1924. He returned to Albania with the assistance 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
Reverse of Zogian coin
Obverse of Zogian coin
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 in an attempt to unify the country.
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.
Life as king
Although born as an aristocrat and hereditary
Bey, HM 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. As King he was, however, honoured by the governments of
Italy,
Luxembourg,
Egypt,
Yugoslavia,
France,
Romania,
Greece,
Belgium,
Bulgaria,
Hungary,
Poland,
Czechoslovakia and
Austria [3]. 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 a great lover of perfumed
cigarettes, and smoked about 150 a day. His household expenses made up nearly two percent 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.
Queen Geraldine
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 Zogu, 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 forced 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
April 7,
1939, Italian troops entered Albania. 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 24th 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 Kosova) in 1931. After the Royal House's exile, he moved to France, where he died in August 1993.
Life in exile
Immediately after his deposition, Zog moved temporarily to
Egypt, where he became a friend of King
Farouk. He then began life in exile as a
jet setter in various countries. The royal family settled in
England, first at The
Ritz in
London, then moving for a very short period in
1941 to
Sunninghill near 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.
[6] 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.
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 [3], 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)
[8]. He was survived by his wife and son. He is buried at the Thiais Cemetery in
Paris.
King Zog's son,
Leka, and his wife
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''). 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 "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''".
Anecdotes
There are many anecdotes about King Zog:
★ The King's
chamberlain was instructed to accost 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".
See also
★
History of Albania
★
Self-proclaimed monarchy
External links
★
Photo Album
★
Soldiers presenting the Zogist Salute
★
King Zog
★
King Zog
★
King Zog signing wedding-papers
★
King Zog and Queen Geraldine, minutes before marriage
★
Count Galeazzo Ciano at Zog's wedding
★
The King in conversation
★
The King, seconds before his official marriage-signment
★
Postcards created on the occasion of the King's wedding
★
Officers at the King's wedding
★
Albanian girls' battalion performing the Zogist salute
★
Soldier with the King's "Z"
★
Further such soldiers of the King
★
Photos of the Knollwood Estate in Long Island, NY
★
stamp of King Zog
★
banknote
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)
Notes
1. Flags of The World website
2. Toptani blood in Albanian Royalty
3. Royal Ark
4. Royal Ark
5. Royal Ark
6. Naçi collection, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, accessed 27 January 2007
7. Royal Ark
8. "Queen Geraldine of the Albanians" by Gwen Robyns
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
|-
|-
|-
|-
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
![Don\](images/articles/thumbs/beachrainthumb.jpg "Don\")
