Susan Cullen-Ward
| Susan | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crown Princess of Albania | |||||
| Born |
28 January 1941 Waverley, Sydney, Australia | ||||
| Died |
17 July 2004 (aged 63) Tirana, Albania | ||||
| Burial | Royal Mausoleum Tirana, Albania | ||||
| Spouse | Leka, Crown Prince of Albania | ||||
| Issue | Prince Leka | ||||
| |||||
| Father | Alan Robert Cullen-Ward | ||||
| Mother | Phyllis Dorothea Murray-Prior | ||||
Susan, Crown Princess of Albania (Susan Barbara Zogu, formerly Williams, née Susan Cullen-Ward, 28 January 1941 – 17 July 2004) was the Australian-born wife of Leka, Crown Prince of Albania.
She preferred to use the title and was sometimes referred to as, Queen Susan of the Albanians (in Albanian, Suzana Zog, Mbretëreshë e Shqiptarëve).[1] Her husband, known as King Leka, had been proclaimed King of the Albanians by the anti-communist Albanian government in exile in 1961, upon the death of his father King Zog. Meanwhile, Albania itself was a communist republic.
Early life
She was born in the Sydney suburb of Waverley, a daughter of Alan Robert Cullen-Ward and his wife, the former Phyllis Dorothea Murray-Prior. She was a great-great-granddaughter of The Hon. Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior, an Australian politician who served as Postmaster-General in the ministries of Robert Herbert, Sir Robert Mackenzie, and Arthur Hunter Palmer in Queensland.
Cullen-Ward grew up on her father's sheep station. She attended Presbyterian Ladies' College at Orange, then Sydney Technical College, before teaching art at a private studio.
She was married to Rick Williams from 1965 to 1970.
Marriage to the Crown Prince of Albania
Susan Cullen-Ward met Crown Prince Leka, the only child of King Zog of Albania, at a dinner party in Sydney. In 1975, they married in a civil ceremony in Biarritz, France. The couple were later married in a religious ceremony in Madrid.
Australian authorities refused to recognise her as a queen but, in a compromise when Andrew Peacock was foreign minister, issued a passport in the name of "Susan Cullen Ward, known as Queen Susan".[2]
She lived a turbulent life after marrying Leka, as they moved from one country to another, having no permanent residence or fixed point of reference. In the first few years of their marriage, the couple lived in Spain. They later settled in Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe). After a falling out with the government of Robert Mugabe, the couple moved again, this time to South Africa where their son, Leka, was born in 1982. She also had a stillborn daughter while resident in Rhodesia.
Death
The Crown Princess of Albania died of lung cancer on 17 July 2004 in Tirana, Albania. After her death, she lay in state in a chapel outside Tirana. She is buried next to her mother-in-law, Queen Geraldine, and her husband, Prince Leka.
Titles, birth to death
- Miss Susan Cullen-Ward (1941–circa 1965)
- Mrs. Rick Williams (circa 1965–circa 1970)
- Miss Susan Cullen-Ward (circa 1970–1975)
- Her Royal Highness The Crown Princess of Albania (1975–2004)
- she called herself Her Majesty Queen Susan of the Albanians
Sources
- Albanian royal family genealogy
- "Queen Susan of the Albanians (obituary)". Daily Telegraph. 2004-07-21. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
- The Age, 19 July 2004 – A royal dream dies
- Obituary, The Scotsman
- "Leka's queen, if not Albania's", The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 July 2004
- "Would-be Queen Susan dies uncrowned", The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 July 2004
- "Burke's Royal Families of the World, Vol. I, Europe & Latin America", Burkes Publishing Co., 1977, ISBN 0-85011-029-7
- Histoire de l'Albanie et de sa maison royale (5 volumes), Patrice Najbor - JePublie - Paris - 2008
- La dynastie des Zogu, Patrice Najbor - Textes & Pretextes - Paris - 2002
- Monarkia Shqiptare 1928-1939, Qendra e Studimeve Albanologjike & Instituti i Historisë, Botimet Toana, Tirana, 2011
References
- ↑ Dreamwater Free Web Space
- ↑ Stephens, Tony (19 July 2004). "Would-be Queen Susan dies uncrowned". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 15 January 2012.