Magyar News, 2003. szeptember-2004. augusztus (14. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2004-06-01 / 10. szám
Tye Hmgarkn-Amerkan Queen of Albania By Erika Papp Faber Before American actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier, Countess Geraldine Apponyi, a Hungarian- American, married King Zog I of Albania. As with other royal weddings that followed, this one was the sensation of the social season, specifically, of 1938. Countess Geraldine, bom in 1915, was the granddaughter of John H. Stewart (or Steuart), the American consul at Antwerp, Belgium, and daughter of American millionairess Gladys Virginia Stewart and Count Gyula Apponyi. They had met in Paris at a dinner in the Austro- Hungarian embassy, and were married in 1914. Gladys divorced Count Apponyi, who died when Geraldine was 9 years old. She took Geraldine and her brother and sister to France. When Gladys later married a French army officer, the Apponyi family demanded that the children be returned to be raised by the family. They were sent to boarding school, but spent their vacations with their grandmother in Appony and, upon her death, with an aunt in Zebegény. This aunt, Countess Franciska Károlyi, had started a so-called Flower Circle, a cultural educational society to whose members she gave the names of flowers, birds or trees. Geraldine was given the name "White Rose", considered very appropriate, since she was a great beauty. Her role in the Circle was to organize games for the children and to take them hiking. A photograph of Countess Geraldine at her formal coming out ball when she was 17 eventually reached King Zog I of Albania. His sisters invited Geraldine for a visit, and the 42-year old monarch proposed on New Year's Day 1938. The royal wedding took place in April of that year. Geraldine was 22 years old, and had been making her living as a steno-typist. Great pomp and circumstance surrounded the wedding in Tirana, Albania. The week-long celebration included a military parade, fireworks, and a banquet served using golden dishes and goblets. The internationally known Jenő Petris gypsy orchestra entertained the guests. The wedding took place on April 27th, 1938. Since King Zog was a Muslim and Geraldine a Roman Catholic, only a civil ceremony was held. The vice president of the Albanian parliament -the president being ill at the time -presided. Geraldine wore a Paris gown with a 24-foot train, created by the fashion house of Worth. She cut the 10- foot wide wedding cake with her husband's saber. Among the wedding presents was a carriage with four Lippizaner horses, sent by the Regent of Hungary, Admiral Horthy , and a supercharged red Mercedes from Adolf Hitler. This latter proved extremely useful the following year, when the royal couple and their 3-day old son had to flee, following the Italian invasion of Albania. For Queen Geraldine could wear the Albanian crown a mere 345 days. The puppet government set up after their departure declared King Victor Emmanuel of Italy to be King Zog's successor. Traveling through Greece and many other European countries, King Zog and Queen Geraldine arrived in England in 1940, where they stayed for the duration of World War II. Then King Farouk of Egypt invited them to settle in Egypt, which they did. However, once Nasser dislodged King Farouk, King Zog and Queen Geraldine returned to Paris. He died there in 1961. After King Zog's death, the Albanian National Assembly in Exile proclaimed their son Leka King of the Albanians. The widowed Y\:-r Queen Geraldine, her son and her sister Virginia then settled in South Africa. Though her reign had been brief, Geraldine had been very popular with the Albanian people. Following the changed political situation (Albania had also turned Communist and for over 40 years boasted of being the world's first atheist state), Geraldine returned to Albania in 2002 at the request of 40 members of the Albanian Left: Queen Geraldine and King Zog I. Right: Their son, King Leka I. Page 4 HM Queen Geraldine of Albania born Countess Geraldine Apponyi de Nagy-Appony
