Susan, Crown Princess of Albania (''née'' Susan Barbara Cullen-Ward, formerly Williams; 28 January 1941 – 17 July 2004) was the Australian-born wife of

Leka, Crown Prince of Albania Leka, Crown Prince of Albania (also known as ''King Leka I''; 5 April 193930 November 2011), was the only son of King Zog I and Queen Geraldine of Albania. He was called Crown Prince Skander at birth. Leka was the pretender to the Kingdom of Alban ...

. Her husband, known as King Leka, had been proclaimed

King of the Albanians While the medieval Angevin Kingdom of Albania was a monarchy, it did not encompass fully the entirety of the modern state of Albania and was ended soon by the Albanian nobles by 1282 when they understood that the Angevin king was not going to ke ...

by the anti-communist Albanian

government-in-exile A government in exile (abbreviated as GiE) is a political group that claims to be a Sovereign state, country or semi-sovereign state's legitimate government, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Govern ...

in 1961, upon the death of his father

King Zog King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the t ...

. Meanwhile,

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

itself was a communist republic.

Early life

Susan Cullen-Ward was born in the Sydney suburb of

Waverley Waverley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Waverley'' (novel), by Sir Walter Scott ** ''Waverley'' Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel * Waverley Harrison, a character in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Stree ...

. Her mother was Phyllis Dorothea Murray-Prior and her father was Alan Robert Cullen-Ward, a pastoralist. Susan Cullen-Ward was a great-granddaughter of the Queensland politician Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior (1819–1892). Cullen-Ward grew up on her father's sheep station. She attended Presbyterian Ladies' College at

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

, then studied at Sydney Technical College before teaching art at a private studio. She was married to Richard Williams from 1965 to 1970. Susan Cullen-Ward was an Anglican.

Marriage to the Crown Prince of Albania

Susan Cullen-Ward met

, the only child of King Zog I of the Albanians, at a dinner party in Sydney. In October 1975, they married in a

civil ceremony A civil, or registrar, ceremony is a non-religious legal marriage ceremony performed by a government official or functionary. In the United Kingdom, this person is typically called a registrar. In the United States, civil ceremonies may be performed ...

in Biarritz, France. The couple were later married in a religious ceremony in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

. Australian authorities refused to recognise her as a queen but, in a compromise when

Andrew Peacock Andrew Sharp Peacock (13 February 193916 April 2021) was an Australian politician and diplomat. He served as a cabinet minister and went on to become leader of the Liberal Party on two occasions (1983–1985 and 1989–1990), leading the pa ...

was foreign minister, issued a passport in the name of "Susan Cullen-Ward, known as Queen Susan". She lived a turbulent life after marrying Leka, as they moved from one country to another, having no permanent residence or fixed point of reference. In the first few years of their marriage, the couple lived in Spain. They later settled in Rhodesia (now known as

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

). After a falling out with the government of Robert Mugabe, the couple moved again, this time to South Africa where their son, Leka, Prince of Albania, Leka, was born in 1982. She also had a stillbirth, stillborn daughter while resident in Rhodesia.

Death

The Crown Princess of Albania died of lung cancer on 17 July 2004 in Tirana, Albania. After her death, she lay in state in a chapel outside Tirana. She is buried next to her mother-in-law, Geraldine of Albania, Queen Geraldine, her husband, Leka, Crown Prince of Albania, Crown Prince Leka, and his father, whose body was reburied in 2012.

Sources

*
''The Age'', 19 July 2004 – A royal dream dies

Obituary, The Scotsman
* "Leka's queen, if not Albania's", The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 July 2004 * "Would-be Queen Susan dies uncrowned", The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 July 2004 * "Burke's Royal Families of the World, Vol. I, Europe & Latin America", Burkes Publishing Co., 1977, * Histoire de l'Albanie et de sa maison royale (5 volumes), Patrice Najbor – JePublie – Paris – 2008 * La dynastie des Zogu, Patrice Najbor – Textes & Pretextes – Paris – 2002 * Monarkia Shqiptare 1928–1939, Qendra e Studimeve Albanologjike & Instituti i Historisë, Botimet Toana, Tirana, 2011

References

External links

Official website of the Albanian Royal Court
{{DEFAULTSORT:Susan 1941 births 2004 deaths People from the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) Australian people of English descent House of Zogu Albanian royalty Albanian nobility Deaths from lung cancer in Albania Australian Anglicans