It could be debated whether Marget Virginia Olga Maria Apponyi de Nagy-Appony knew what she was getting into when she agreed to a quick marriage, the eccentric Albanian King Zog I. When they got married, she did not speak Albanian, nor did she know much about the country and his twenty-year-old, older husband.
She was from a family of the highest nobility in Hungary with roots in America that softened her aristocratic blood. A restless childhood that stretched from Hungary to Switzerland and again to Hungary and back to France, Vienna and Czechoslovakia, certainly prepared her for the final fate in Zog's house. However, that will only be part of her future. As a dazzling blonde bride with her handmade crown, crowned with an orange blossom, she took her vows next to her newlywed husband in a civil ceremony that respected Gerald’s Roman Catholicism and Zog’s Islam.
The wedding was not modest, Zog's witness was Benito Mussolini's son-in-law and the couple drove their honeymoon in a red Mercedes, Adolf Hitler's wedding gift. The radiant bride wore a crown made especially for her, which only further emphasized the reason for her nickname, "the white rose of Hungary".
The splendor of the wedding was not the most unusual part of Zog's marriage. He realized in the mid-1930s that he wanted to marry a European aristocrat with great wealth. His sisters secretly photographed free noblewomen in Europe to find a suitable bride for him. When his favorite sister Senije showed him a photo of Geraldine, he immediately made the decision to marry her.
Geraldina met all but one of the criteria, working as a typist for the National Museum in Budapest. Her family fortune was completely lost at that moment.
As much as Zog needed money to pursue his extravagant lifestyle, he wanted Geraldine more than that. The marriage agreement was made and she was invited to come to Albania, in December 1937. They got engaged very quickly and the wedding was held on April 27, 1938 in Tirana.
From the beginning, Zog started with extravagance, jewels, designer clothes and luxury for Geraldine, who came to life. She helped establish the Albanian Red Cross. She contributed to the construction of hospitals, brought Austrian doctors to Albania and founded the first maternity hospital. She also helped create and promote Radio Tirana. She became pregnant very quickly, which was the most important thing for a queen at that time.
Geraldina was still pregnant when Benito Mussolini issued a strictly worded ultimatum to King Zog on March 25, 1939, to hand over Albania to Italy.
Zog refused. Although he tried to create good relations with Italy, he also tried to stick to his views. Zog, who had already been the target of several hundred blood avengers, realized that even if he accepted the ultimatum of the Italians, the avengers would find a way to kill him and take total control. He planned to take the gelling units out of the mountains and cede the coast and towns to the Italians, he knew that small Albanian forces could not defend them. Unfortunately, Italian military personnel stationed in Albania for military training quickly conveyed his plans to his government. There will be no resistance from the king.
All this was happening behind a screen, Zoga's government refused to issue an official notice to the citizens. News of the ultimatum eventually leaked and people began to demonstrate.
A brief confusion reigned when the sounds of gunfire seemed to come out of nowhere, the government solemnly announced the birth of a new prince, heir, Leku.
The leaders of Albania began to flee the country, on April 7 Geraldine and only two days old Leka were taken by ambulance over treacherous mountain passes to Greece, the first station of their exile. Shortly afterwards, Zog declared "we would rather die, from the youngest to the oldest, to show that our independence is not for sale."
As Zog took most of the Albanian treasury with him, his statement was less than impressive.
Geraldine was in constant flight from the Nazis, moving from Greece to Istanbul then to France. Then, the family and their guards were evacuated from France by ship to Britain, an operation for which Ian Fleming sought credit.
Exile was not the reason why Zog would give up a luxurious life, he decided to rent the entire floor of the Ritz Hotel in London. Eventually the Albanian court in exile ended up far from the city in the Parmoor House.
Geraldina was not happy in Britain even though she was fluent in English. She was very talented in languages, she was fluent in English, French, German, Hungarian and Albanian. She also managed to learn a little Arabic which came in handy at the end of the war when the family moved to Egypt. They were personal guests of King Farouk.
Recently uncovered intelligence sources contain certain assumptions as to why Geraldina may have been unhappy. They depict an even more debauched image of an exiled king who was known for smoking up to 200 cigarettes a day and participating in poker games that would last well into the night. What is far more shocking than the king’s arrogance and tobacco addiction are suspicions of a love affair with one of his sisters. If what the mentioned sources claim is true and if Queen Geraldine knew about this situation, that could definitely be the reason for her grief.
Of course, it is entirely possible that the king's close relationship with his sister is just that, a very close relationship between brother and sister. Zog has successfully avoided assassination attempts on blood avengers for more than twenty years. Relationships in which he could have been completely trusted were rare, so his closeness to his sisters is understandable. It was well known that Zog ate only food that his mother or sisters would prepare. The implicit trust he had in the sisters definitely fits into his suspicious attitude toward life.
Zog's family turned over a new leaf in Egypt in 1946, which Geraldina described as the happiest part of her life. She became close with Princess Fawzia Fuad, who, in addition to her turbulent former marriage to Mohammed Reza Pahlavi of Iran, was also known for her Albanian heritage. The Egyptian idyll did not last long. King Farouk was overthrown in 1952 and the family returned to France.
Zog died in France in 1961, and the Albanian government proclaimed Leka the new king in exile. The rise of his son to the Albanian throne did nothing to calm the storms that dominated the lives of the woman who now loved to be called the "Queen Mother of Albania".
Zoga's family was expelled from France very quickly due to Leka's offenses, mostly carrying a personal weapon. They were comfortably accommodated in Spain where Geraldina was a close friend of the Bulgarian queen. Even the fascist dictator Franco could not tolerate Leka's arms trade, the growing collection of military weapons and the turning of his villa in Spain into a castle with watchtowers.
In the early 1979s, Geraldina was on the run again, this time to Africa. A short break in Gabon resulted in a conflict between Leka who threatened with a weapon called a "bazooka" and Gabonese military troops who intended to extradite him to Enver Hoxha's Albania. Eventually, Leka and his mother arrived in Rhodesia, just in time to witness the fall of the white nationalist government that invited them. The next step had to be taken, so the family moved to South Africa at the invitation of the apartheid government, in 1980.
From 1980 to 1997, they were again refugees in South Africa but had the privileges of diplomatic status. During that time, Leka twice returned to Albania trying to restore the monarchy (the second time it resulted in an armed conflict between the monarchists and the Albanian police) but the population of Albania did not want to return to the reign of King Zog.
At the same time, they lost the privileges they enjoyed in South Africa. Leka was arrested in 1999 for possession of weapons, landmines and over 14,000 rounds of ammunition in his home. As a result, they lost all diplomatic privileges, although the accusations were later dropped.
Geraldina, her grandson and son Lek finally received permission to return to Albania in 2002. A long life in Albania was never Geraldine's destiny, within a year she died of a heart attack while at the same time being treated for lung cancer.
Her legacy continued in Albania, on the anniversary of her death on October 22, 2020, Lek's grandson and his wife had a daughter. The girl was not only born on the anniversary of her great-grandmother's death, but also bears her name Geraldine, she was born in the maternity ward of Queen Geraldine.
