Apponyi, Geraldine (1915–2002)
Apponyi, Geraldine (1915–2002)
Queen of Albania. Name variations: Countess Apponyi or Appony; Geraldine of Albania; Geraldine de Nagy-Appony. Born Geraldine de Nagy-Appony in Budapest, Hungary, Aug 6, 1915; raised in Budapest by her uncle and guardian, Count Charles Apponyi; died Oct 22, 2002, in France; elder dau. of Gladys Stewart (also seen as Steuart, later Girrault) of New York City and Count Gyula (Julius) Nagi-Apponyi (also seen as de Nagy-Appony) of Hungary; m. Ahmed Bey Zogu (1895–1961), also known as Scanderbeg III or Zog I (r. 1928–39), king of Albania, April 27, 1938 (died 1961); children: son Leka (b. April 5, 1939).
Was a clerk in the souvenir shop of the Budapest National Museum; married King Zog of Albania (1938), whose country was in close collaboration with Italy, until Mussolini invaded Albania (1939), two days after she gave birth to the Albanian heir; was put into an ambulance with newborn child and sent down 160 miles of rough road to neighboring Greece; lived in England and Egypt during WWII; at end of WWII, was officially deposed with husband by the Communists (1946); resided with family in France.