aka
King Zog I. Ahmed Bey Zogu was
president of
Albania from 1925 to 1928 and
king from 1928 to 1939.
Zogu, born in 1895, worked hard to become
king. He had to fight off all sorts of
Balkan adversaries to consolidate control of
Albania after
World War II. However, once things had settled down and he'd crowned himself (
coronation complete with an outfit of rose-colored
breeches, gold
spurs, and a gold
crown waying 5/8 of a
pound), the main things left to do were to stay in
power, stay
alive, make an
heir. Zog tried for the first two objectives by lying low; while
Tiran (the capital) didn't have any night clubs anyway, Zog apparently spent most of his days at home playing
poker and smoking up to 150
perfumed cigarettes per day. Unfortunately, this isn't much of a
way to meet girls. None of the other European
royal families cared to send a
mail order bride, so Zog's sisters stepped in. They found a penniless
countess selling post cards at a
museum, and
Zog was in love. They were married in 1938.
While Zog's reign was awfully peaceful for
Albania,
all good things must come to an end. In 1939,
Benito Mussolini, a former friend, ousted
Zog.
Zog went into exile in
Egypt, eventually moving to the
Long Island. His hopes of returning to the crown after the war were dashed by
Enver Hoxha's 1945 establishment of a communist
republic in
Albania.
King Zog I died in 1961, in Suresnes,
France.
references: britannica.com and http://www.frosina.org/infobits/kingzog.shtml