Geraldine Apponyi de Nagy-Apponyi
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Countess Geraldine Margit Virginia Olga Mária Apponyi de Nagy-Appony (6 August 1915—22 October 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 Albania (in Albanian, Geraldina Zog, Mbretėreshė i Shqiptarėvet)[1]
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[edit] Early life
Geraldine was born in Budapest, Hungary, a daughter of Count Gyula Apponyi de Nagy-Apponyi (1873—1924). Her mother was Gladys Virginia Steuart (1891—1947), an American, a daughter of a millionaire from Virginia, daughter of John Henry Steuart, a diplomat who served as American Consul to Antwerp, Belgium, and wife Mary Virginia Ramsay Harding.
When the empire of Austria-Hungary collapsed, the Apponyi family went to Switzerland. In 1921 they returned to Hungary. However, when Geraldine's father died, her mother decided to take their three children (Geraldine, Virginia, 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 education. 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 selling postcards at the Budapest National Museum, where one of her uncles was the director.
[edit] Royal life
Geraldine 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. She had some distant Albanian roots[citation needed].
On April 27, 1938, in Tirana, Albania, Geraldine married the king in a ceremony witnessed by Count Ciano, Mussolini's envoy and son-in-law. She was Roman Catholic and King Zog was Muslim. They drove to their honeymoon in an open-top scarlet Mercedes Benz, a present from Adolf Hitler. The couple had two children, Leka Zogu (1939—) now King Leka I of the Albanians.
Zog's rule was cut short with the invasion of Albania by fascist Italy in April 1939, and the family fled the country into exile. From 1939, Geraldine and Zog lived in Greece, Turkey, England, Egypt, United States, and France. King Zog died in Hauts-de-Seine, France in 1961 and their son Prince Leka was declared King Leka and they moved to Spain, Rhodesia and then South Africa.
[edit] Later life
From 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 of 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, 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
- Grafin (Countess) Geraldine Apponyi de Nagy-Apponyi (1915-1938)
- Her Royal Highness Princess Geraldine of Albania (Geraldina, Princësh i Shqiptarë) (10 January—27 April 1938)[3]
- Her Majesty Queen Geraldine of the Albanians (Geraldina Zog, Mbretëreshë i Shqiptarëvet) (actual title, 1938-2002)
- Her Majesty the Queen Mother of the Albanians (Nëna Mbretëreshë i Shqiptarëvet) (courtesy title, 1961-2002)
[edit] References
[edit] Further reading
- 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).
- The Economist, 7 November 2002 - Queen Geraldine of Albania.
- The Independent, 24 October 2004, Obituary.
[edit] External links
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