add site
services
publishers
database
health videos
toolbar
stats
live show
health store
more stuff
JOIN/LOGIN
| advertise add site services publishers database health videos
| | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
Countess Géraldine Margit Virginia Olga Mária Apponyi de Nagyappony (August 6, 1915 – October 22, 2002) was the Queen Consort of King Zog I, of the Zogu dynasty of Albania. From the time of her marriage she was known as Queen Geraldine of the Albanians (Albanian: Geraldina Zog, Mbretėreshė i Shqiptarėvet).[1]
[edit] Early lifeGeraldine was born in Budapest, Hungary, a daughter of Count Gyula Apponyi de Nagyappony (1873–1924). Her mother was Gladys Virginia Stewart (1891–1947), an American, daughter of millionaire John Henry Stewart from Virginia, a diplomat who served as American Consul to Antwerp, Belgium, and his wife Mary Virginia Ramsay Harding. Through her mother, Geraldine was related to Richard Nixon and poet Robert Frost, with common ancestors in the beginning of the 17th century. When the Empire of Austria-Hungary collapsed, the Apponyi family went to reside in Switzerland. In 1921 they returned to the Kingdom of Hungary which was stable under Regent Miklós Horthy. However, when Geraldine's father died, her mother decided to take their three children (Geraldine, Madeleine, and Gyula) with her to the resort of Menton in the south of France. When Countess de Nagy-Apponyi decided to marry a French officer, her Hungarian in-laws insisted that the children be returned to Hungary for their schooling. They were sent to the Sacred Heart boarding school in Pressbaum, near Vienna. Her family's fortune spent, Geraldine earned a living as a shorthand-typist. She also worked in the gift shop of the Budapest National Museum, where her uncle was the director. [edit] Royal lifeGeraldine was introduced to King Zog I in December 1937, after his sister had approached Geraldine on behalf of the monarch. The King had seen the young Hungarian woman's photograph. She went to Albania and within days the couple were engaged to be married. Known as the "White Rose of Hungary", Geraldine was raised to royal status as Princess Geraldine of Albania prior to her wedding. On April 27, 1938, in Tirana, Albania, Geraldine married the King in a ceremony witnessed by Galeazzo Ciano, envoy and son-in-law of Il Duce and Prime Minister of Italy, Benito Mussolini. She was Roman Catholic and King Zog was Muslim. They drove to their honeymoon in an open-top scarlet Mercedes-Benz 540K, a present from Führer Adolf Hitler. The couple had one son, H.R.H. The Crown Prince Leka Zogu (1939–), who is now styled 'King Leka I of the Albanians'. Zog's rule was cut short with the Invasion of Albania by the Kingdom of Italy in April 1939, and the family fled the country into exile. From 1939, Geraldine and Zog lived in Greece, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Egypt, United States, and France. King Zog I died in Hauts-de-Seine, France, in 1961 and their son, Crown Prince Leka, who was proclaimed King Leka I. Following this, the Royal Family moved to Spain, Rhodesia and then South Africa. [edit] Later lifeFrom 1961, when her son was proclaimed King of the Albanians by the royalist government in exile, she preferred to be known as the Queen Mother of Albania [2]. In June 2002, Geraldine returned to Albania from South Africa to live in Tirana, after the law was changed to allow her to do so, and she continued to assert that her son Leka was the legitimate King of the Albanians. Queen Geraldine died at the age of 87 in a military hospital in Tirana. After having been admitted for treatment for lung disease, she suffered at least three heart attacks, the last of which was fatal, on October 22, 2002[3]. She was buried by the Central House of the Army and with full honors, including a funeral oration at the cathedral of Shen Pjetri, on October 26, 2002, and interred in the public cemetery of Sharra, Albania, at "The Plot of VIPs". Her grandson, H.R.H. The Prince Leka of Albania, posthumously accepted a medal from the Albanian government on behalf of her charitable efforts on behalf of the people of Albania. [edit] Titles
[edit] Ancestors
[edit] References[edit] Further reading
[edit] External links
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |
