Queen Geraldine of Albania
Geraldine Apponyi, a queen for 354 days, died on October 22nd, aged 87
IN THE 1930s King Zog of Albania was looking for a wife. Such vacancies were not uncommon among the royal families of Europe, where 17 countries were still ruled, at least nominally, by a monarch, and many others had claimants to the throne. To be queen of Albania was perhaps not the first choice of a woman seeking a royal career; Britain would have been better, but Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee, seemed all set for the queen's job there (until the king spoiled everything by abdicating). If Albania had any particular appeal it could be that so insignificant a country could hardly be coveted by the competing ideologies in Europe of fascism and communism.
This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline “Queen Geraldine of Albania”
Obituary November 9th 2002
From the November 9th 2002 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionDiscover more
Celeste Caeiro’s small gesture named a revolution
The Portuguese restaurant worker and single mother died on November 15th, aged 91
Frank Auerbach aimed only at one memorable image
Britain’s most obsessive figurative painter died on November 11th, aged 93
Baltazar Ushca climbed Chimborazo twice a week
The last Ecuadorean ice-harvester died on October 11th, aged 80
Quincy Jones ruled popular music for half a century
The producer, arranger and film-score writer died on November 3rd, aged 91
Lily Ebert lived to share her story of Auschwitz
The Holocaust survivor and memoirist died on October 9th, aged 100
Fethullah Gulen tried to transform Turkey in the subtlest ways
The scholar, teacher and activist died on Ocrober 20th, aged 83