Young Queen for Albania

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23020, 23 April 1938, Page 3 (Supplement)

Young Queen for Albania

was very fond of the young mountain stripling), and fought against the many bands of rebels. Loyal to Wilhelm to the very last, he retired to the Mati hills and began to gather an army of tribesmen.

He was thus ready, after the troublesome history of Albania during the Great War, to march down to the coast in 1918 and take a stand against the Italian army of occupation. A national assembly was called and the twenty-three-year-old boy became its loader. Then his rise became spectacular. When President Wilson insisted that such a proud race as the Albanians . should retain their freedom, young Zogu took various Ministries and in 1924 became Prime Minister. He fell in an extraordinary way. Successful Revolution A Harvard-trained Albanian bishop launched a successful revolution in June, 1924, and then proceeded to introduce Bolshevist principles into a country where the natives all owned their piece of land and would die rather than give up their individuality. Zog, who had taken refuge in Yugoslavia with eight hundred of his most loyal soldiers, awaited his chance, and within six months from his flight had inarched on Tirana and becomo President of the new Albanian republic. In this capacity ho showed his worth. He went out of his way to understand the psychology of the rough mountain men, and soon made it known that his besa, or personal word, was as honourable as could bo desired.

spirit of the Albanians. They thought that they were helping them, for instance, when they would appear on their balcony and scatter small coins to the crowds. In Albanian eyes, this was an insult deserving death. Consequently, few people regretted the abdication of Wilhelm of Wied. The Kaiser had predicted what would happen when he opposed the Wied candidature, and now he was proved right. At this juncture a young chieftain of Mati riflemen began to attract notice. He came of a noble family. Both his father and grandfather had been pashas in the Turkish service, and ono of his n ancestors had even been Grand Vizi or e of the whole realm. p Serb Invaders l ~ When his father died in 1904, young '• Ahmed was nine years old. The boy s went to a school for Turkish officers, but he left this to lead his tribesmen against the Serb invaders. This was the - first public action of Ahmed Zogu (or t Zogolli), destined to become King of i Albania. When Wilhelm became king, young 3 Zog supported him (the Prince of Wied

- King Zog and three of his sisters I|T has been said that you can travel thirty hours from the heart of Paris to-day and step into the conditions of fifteen hundred years ago—say of the Merovingians or the old Saxon kingdoms in. Britain. This is in Albania — tfoqiperia, the land of the Mountain Eagle; and the claim is not far wrong, in spite of the recent attempts of young King Zog to modernise the lan'd.

Triumph of triumph he even convinced the tribesmen that it would be to their interest to pay taxes to the Central Government and to give up their stupid armed feuds.

It is difficult not to like the lardy Albanian mountaineers. They are . Aryans, probably tho descendants of the Pelasgians, < the first people in the Balkan Peninsula; later they became blown as Illyrians or Macedonians. ;lUnder whatever name, they have •Iways made a stand for freedom. • Gauls, Romans, Slavs, Germans, •Venetians, Turks were all repelled by them. It is true that the death of their ; legendary king, Scanderberg, in 1467 !:™d to their conquest by the Turks, luder whom tbev remained until 1912. no Turk, not even the Red Sultan igfliinself, ever really subdued them. Iglpftqy remained as isolated groups in : p^ r mountain fastnesses, and their •/young men obtained fame as the Ousted bodyguards of the Sultans. Wilhelm of Wied was difficult for them to learn the Whabit of political co-operation when ;s|$ e y won independence again, and many fratricidal struggles they galled on a Germnn princeling, Wilhelm Wied, to become their king. A humourless poseur, Wilhelm lasted sijply a few months. Before ho went to x Albania he designed all kinds of comicuniforms for himself, marvellous ®*®ations of white silk and Imperial Purple. Arrived at Valona he found not J! 1 ® palace of his- dreams, but a kind of JS* 0 with a leaky roof and with piles -®\_Barbage on the floor. nnt ' s fastidious Queen Sophie make the best of it, but neither . " them could understand the proud ■r-''

Amazing Exploits of Husband Who Rules a Strange People KING ZOG SECURED POWER BY HIS SWORD By PROFESSOR S. H. ROBERTS, Challis Professor of Modern History, University of Sydney—(Copyright).

His policy was to modernise the country as quickly as possible, but not in such a way as to antagonise his conservative Mahommedan subjects. So he did much to transform the age-old sleepiness of Tirana into the bustle of a modern town. But the changes required money and Albania had no Treasury.

Zogu therefore established a bank, but soon found that even a bank has to have money; and here he took the step that has decided the place of his country over sinco and that has made Albania so important in the general European situation. Although he had told the British representative: " Never will I fall into the arms of Italy," ho accepted a loan of fifty million lira from Mussolini in 1925, pledging the Customs receipts as security for it. The National Bank consequently became a virtually Italian institution, and has remained so ever since. To consolidate this economic help, Zog signed the formal Treaty of Tirana with Italy in 1926. It was her first treaty with a major Power on a basis of equality, but in the long run it made Albania an Italian vassal-State. Italy In the Balkans President Zogu, who had come to power with tho aid of the Yugoslavs, had turned to their enemies the Italians; and ever since that date Albania has been a jumping-off place for Italy in tho Balkans. Mussolini was very shrewd. Guns placed on the heel of Italy could command the Albanian tow'ns, but there was never any need to use them. Zogu willingly accepted Italian terms, and thus Italy was able to close the Adriatic. <and even menace tho vital points of southern. Yugoslavia from Albania. President Zogu had declared himself King Zog in 1928. the descendant of

Scanderberg, and soon surrounded himself with all the trappings of royalty, although on a very small scale. After all, Albania only consists of ten thousand square miles and has just over a million inhabitants, most of them still Jiving a*vcry primitive existence. King Zog bought showy uniforms and grew a moustacho on the Kaiser's model, but beyond that his subjects would not allow him to go, even if funds had been available to him. Outwardly Zog resembles some prince in a Euritanian comedy. Extremely handsome ami well set-up, he is the maiden's idea of a prince, especially since his romantic step of becoming engaged to Countess Geraldine Apponyi, an aristocratic but very poor Hungarian. Shrewd Business Man Three of his sisters await rich husbands. Unkind critics said that was why they paid a recent visit to America, but the answer is that, while Zog wants foreign capital to develop his country and while lie would like to show Mussolini that he can get it elsewhere, he himself is very well off. Behind the tinsel romance is a shrewd business man. Most of Zog's wealth is safely deposited in foreign banks, because, after all, revolution is the law of life in Albania, and Zog himself is the focal point of some six hundred blood-feuds. Many of these, it must be added, he richly deserved, and perhaps some of the adoration of young foreign maidens might weaken if they _ knew more of Zog's methods of disposing of his adversaries. It has been said that no man can keep order in Albania unless he is a combination of hill-bandit and executioner; and certainly Zog has maintained order for years. The inference is clear.

It would be unwise to scoff at this Eocket-handkerchief kingdom, if only ecause of its geographical position. Albania commands one entrance to the Adriatic and can bottle up all the Beagoing trade of that region.

The occupant of Albania can aUo strike at Belgrade, if he is strong enough: and,, in spite of the recent unpopularity of individual Italians in the kingdom, there is no doubt that Italian influence, is still predominant there. The earlier treaty of friendship has been transformed into a rigid military alliance; the first Italian loan to the" Albanian Bank was but precursor of many others; the new industries are practically all in Italian hands; the Albanian army, which started out under Serb and not a little British influence, has become an Italian force; and the great military roads which have done more than anythihg else to modernise the country lead in the direction of the Yugoslavian border. Mediterranean Imperialism ; Last year's agreement between Italy and Yugoslavia made special mention of such military works In, Albania, but they still remain just in case the traditional hostility of Serbs and Italians flares up in the Adriatic. Some people say that King Zog has begun to assert his independence and to blackmail Italy by threatening to turn to his first love, the Yugoslavians: but little evidence exists to support this. Albania to-day is an integral part of the Italian scheme of Mediterranean Imperialism, and Zog knows that if he strains at the leash Italian forces will pour in to control his fourteen thousand soldiers, even if they would fight for him. Albanian independence exists only in name, and proud King Zog is in reality an Italian satrap. The thundering pace of modern Imperialism has made Albania merely a cog in Italian machinery, and Mussolini welcomes all the Ruritanian trappings of the Court at picturesque old Tirana because they divert attention from the stern realities.

x Zog may have his Court and his Queen, his uniforms and bis Royal Guards as as Mussolini has the ports and the industries, the.strategical roads and the array, the banking and the trade of Albania.

The only uncertain element of the situation is what would happen if Italy attempted a more direct form of con-

trol, for it is more than likely that the hilismen, safe in their eyries, wpuld once more fight for their independence, for they believe that .their erstwhile Mati sharpshooter Zog (which means " the Bird ") has perhaps sold them out to a foreign Power. Zog, the Bird, may not be the traditional Eagle of Shqiperia. •. - V ■ ■■■■.! ' . '■ ■ ' .. r Her marriage with the ruler of Albania, which, it is reported, will take place next Wednesday, means a considerable change in the hitherto simple itnd modest life of Countess Geraldine. She is the daughter of Count Anton Apponyi, who died very young, leaving his American wife a widow alter only ten years of married life. The two little girls of the marriage, Virginia and Geraldine, went to live with their mother in Paris. -*

family name and uses the name of a flower. It became a well-known attraction for tourists to Hungarv. Many of them spent a day in this Sower paradise.- ■ '* . . Here Countess Virginia, re-christened Virginia Rose, and Countess Geraldine, re-named White Rose, were hostesses. It was here that Virginia llose met and fell in love with a Hungarian landowning noble ? whom she married. Whit* Rose still waited for her fairy prince. Then, in Venice, she, the granddaughter of the famous old Earl Marshall of Emperor Frans-Joseph 1., mel , King Zog. A Hungarian aristocrat gave a little dinner in honour of the King of Albania, at which only six people were present. Countess Geraldine sat next to King Zog. It was love at first sight. Thej kuew they were meant for each othe* in spite of the many difficulties in thi way. After this journey to Italy littU Countess Geraldine, who was sometime! laughed at in sophisticated Budapest society because or her natural, quick blush, was seen no more. Now it il known why. —By arrangement with the Sydney Mail.

Wlien their mother decided to marry again, and informed her children of her intention, Virginia and Geraldine regarded it as something terrible, and with typical childish decision ran away from Paris—one was fourteen, the other twelve—to walk to Budapest. The police found them, but from then on they lived, not with their mother — who did re-marry and now lives with her French husband in Mentone—but with their aunt in Hungary. Of course they had the very best education possible, but the family was not wealthy and they could not share the colourful life of other aristocratic children.

Countess Geraldine was comparatively unknown in Budapest society until a few months ago, when she appeared as Mimi in Puccini's "La Boheme," in a charity performance at the Hungarian State Opera.* Her delicate young beauty and charm aroused tremendous enthusiasm.

A few weeks later, when the Hungarian National Museum had the idea of employing young ladies of society, with a knowledge of foreign languages, as guides to attract foreign tourists, the future Queen of Albania worked in the museum for some months. Countess Virginia and Countess GeraU dine had another interesting occupation. A charitable Hungarian Countess founded in Zebegeny, a village on the Danube, a so-called Flower Republic, consisting of typical peasant houses. Here everybody,. rich or poor, aristocrats or peasants, abandons the