King of Albania

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William of Weid

While the medieval Angevin Kingdom of Albania was a monarchy, it did not encompass the entirety of the modern state of Albania. The latter has been a kingdom on two occasions. The first time was after it was declared independent in 1912. Under the independence settlement imposed by the Great Powers, the country was styled a principality, and its ruler, William of Wied, was given the title of sovereign prince. However, these styles were only used outside the country. In Albanian, William was referred to by the title mbret, or king. This was because many local nobles already had the title of prince (princ, prinq, or prenk in various Albanian dialects), and because domestically the Albanian sovereign could not be seen as holding a title inferior to that of the King of Montenegro. Prince William's full style was:

By the grace of the powers and the will of the people the Prince of Albania

William was forced into exile by internal disorder just after the outbreak of World War I, and Albania was to be occupied by various foreign powers for most the war. In the confusing aftermath of the war, some of the several different regimes competing for power officially styled themselves as regencies for William. Albania's first monarchy ended definitively when the restored central government declared the country a republic in 1924.

Four years later, on September 1, 1928, the president Ahmed Bey Zogu proclaimed himself King of the Albanians (Mbret i Shqiptarëve in Albanian) as Zog I. Zog sought to establish a constitutional monarchy. Under the royal constitution, the Albanian King, like the King of the Belgians, had to swear an oath before parliament before entering into his royal powers. The text of the oath was as follows:

I, name, King of the Albanians, on ascending the Throne of the Albanian Kingdom and assuming the Royal powers, swear in the presence of God Almighty that I will maintain national unity, the independence of the state, and its territorial integrity, and I will maintain and conform to the statute and laws in force, having the good of the people always in mind. So help me God!

Zog's Kingdom came to be tied more and more closely to Victor Emmanuel III's Italy, until the latter occupied it on April 7, 1939. Zog fled the country, and five days later, the Albanian parliament proclaimed Victor Emmanuel III of Italy as the new king. He took the title King of Albania, which title he formally retained until he abdicated in 1943. Zog I was then reinstated as king (though he never returned to Albania) until the socialist People's Republic of Albania was established in 1946.

During and after World War II, some Albanians worked for the return of King Zog; however, they were not successful. Neither Zog nor Victor Emmanuel had their Albanian royal titles widely acknowledged by the international community. Zog's son, Leka is currently pretender to the crown.