- Géraldine Apponyi de Nagyappony
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The native form of this personal name is Apponyi Géraldine. This article uses the Western name order.
Queen Géraldine of the Albanians Queen consort of the Albanians Tenure 27 April 1938 - 7 April 1939
(0 years, 345 days)Spouse King Zog I Issue Leka, Crown Prince of Albania Full name Géraldine Margit Virginia Olga Mária Father Gyula Apponyi de Nagy-Apponyi Mother Gladys Virginia Stewart Born 6 August 1915
Budapest, Austria-Hungary
Died 22 October 2002 (aged 87)
Tirana, Albania
Burial Cemetery of Sharra, Albania Queen Géraldine [1] or 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, Mbretëreshë e Shqiptarëvet).[2][dead link]
Contents
Early life
Geraldine 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 in Antwerp, Belgium, and his wife Mary Virginia Ramsay Harding. Through her mother, Geraldine was distantly 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 live 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 and their three children (Geraldine, Virginia, and Gyula) went to live in the resort of Menton in the south of France. When the Countess married a French officer, her Hungarian in-laws insisted that the children be returned to Hungary for their schooling. The girls 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.
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.
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 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 by the Italian invasion of Albania 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 was proclaimed King Leka I by the royalist government in exile. Following this, the Royal Family moved to Spain, Rhodesia and then South Africa.
Later life
After her husband's death, Geraldine preferred to be known as the Queen Mother of Albania.[3] In June 2002, Geraldine returned from South Africa to live in Tirana in Albania, after the law was changed to allow her to do so. 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 being admitted for treatment for lung disease, she suffered at least three heart attacks, the last of which was fatal, on October 22, 2002.[4] She was buried by the Central House of the Army 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, in the "VIP plot".
Her grandson, H.R.H. The Prince Leka of Albania, accepted a medal awarded to her posthumously by the Albanian government in recognition of her charitable efforts for the people of Albania.
Titles
- nagyapponyi Apponyi Géraldine grófnő (countess, 1915–1938)
- Her Royal Highness Princess Geraldine of Albania (Geraldina, Princësh i Shqiptarë) (10 January–27 April 1938)[5]
- 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)
Ancestors
Ancestors of Géraldine Apponyi de Nagyappony 16. Count Antál Apponyi de Nagy-Appony 8. Count Gyula Apponyi de Nagy-Appony 17. Countess Therese Nogarola 4. Count Lajos Apponyi de Nagy-Appony 18. Count Albert Sztáray de Sztára et Nagy-Mihály 9. Countess Zsófia Sztáray de Nagy-Mihály et Sztára 19. Countess Franciska Károlyi de Nagy-Károly 2. Count Gyula Apponyi de Nagy-Appony 20. Count Ernst von Seherr-Thoß 10. Count Hermann of Scherr-Thoß 21. Baroness Agnes von Loën 5. Countess Marguerite of Scherr-Thoß 22. Count Ernst Karl Strachwitz of Gross-Zauche and Camminetz 11. Countess Olga Strachwitz of Gross-Zauche-Camminetz 23. Baroness Mathilde von Erstenberg zum Freyenthurm 1. Géraldine Apponyi de Nagy-Appony 24. David Stewart 12. David Stewart, Jr. 25. Mary Hall 6. John Henry Stewart 26. James Mackall Heighe 13. Margaret Heighe 27. Jane Turner 3. Gladys Virginia Stewart 28. Seth Harding 14. Edward Learned Harding 29. Mary Learned 7. Mary Virginia Ramsay Harding 30. Theodore Nixon Ramsay 15. Lucy Booker Ramsay 31. Virginia Elizabeth Ramsay References
- ^ [1]
- ^ Royal Ark
- ^ law.nyu.edu
- ^ BBC News Online – Former Albanian queen dies
- ^ Dreamwater Free Web Space
Further reading
- Pearson, O. S. Albania and King Zog, I.B. Tauris. 2005 (ISBN 1-84511-013-7).
- Tomes, Jason King Zog, Self-Made Monarch of Albania, Stroud: Sutton, 2003 ISBN 0-7509-3077-2
- Rees, Neil. A Royal Exile: King Zog & Queen Geraldine of Albania including their wartime exile in the Thames Valley and Chilterns, 2010 ISBN 978-0-9550883-1-5
- The Economist, 7 November 2002 - Queen Geraldine of Albania.
- The Independent, 24 October 2004, Obituary.
- Dedet, Joséphine Géraldine, reine des Albanais. Paris: Criterion, 1997 ISBN 2-7413-0148-4
External links
Géraldine Apponyi de NagyapponyHouse of NagyapponyBorn: 6 August 1915 Died: 22 October 2002Albanian royalty Vacant Title last held bySophie of Schönburg-Waldenburg
as Princess of AlbaniaQueen consort of the Albanians
27 April 1938 – 7 April 1939Succeeded by
Elena of Montenegro
as Queen of ItalyCategories:- 1915 births
- 2002 deaths
- People from Budapest
- Albanian royal consorts
- Royalty
- History of Albania
- Apponyi family
- Hungarian nobility
- Albanian people of Hungarian descent
- Albanian people of American descent
- Hungarian people of American descent
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