Prince Wilhelm of Wied ( German: ''Wilhelm Friedrich Heinrich Prinz zu Wied'', 26 March 1876 – 18 April 1945), reigned briefly as sovereign of the

Principality of Albania The Principality of Albania ( al, Principata e Shqipërisë or ) refers to the short-lived monarchy in Albania, headed by Wilhelm, Prince of Albania, that lasted from the Treaty of London of 1913 which ended the First Balkan War, through ...

as Vilhelm I from 7 March to 3 September 1914, when he left for exile. His reign officially came to an end on 31 January 1925, when the country was declared an

Albanian Republic Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture ** Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the countr ...

. Outside the country and in diplomatic correspondence, he was styled "sovereign

prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...

", but in

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 ...

, he was referred to as ''mbret'', or king. He was also styled Skanderbeg II, in homage to

Skanderbeg , reign = 28 November 1443 – 17 January 1468 , predecessor = Gjon Kastrioti , successor = Gjon Kastrioti II , spouse = Donika Arianiti , issue = Gjon Kastrioti II , royal house = Kastrioti , father ...

, the national hero.

Family and early life

William was born on 26 March 1876 in Neuwied Castle, near Koblenz, in the Prussian Rhineland, as Prince William of Wied (german: Wilhelm Friedrich Heinrich Prinz zu Wied). Born into the mediatised house of

Wied-Neuwied Wied-Neuwied was a German statelet in northeastern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located northeast of the Rhine River flanking the northern side of the city of Neuwied. Wied-Neuwied emerged from the partitioning of Wied. Its status was elevated ...

, he was the third son of William, 5th Prince of Wied (brother of Queen Elisabeth of Romania), and his wife Princess Marie of the Netherlands (sister of Queen Louise of Sweden). He was also second cousin of

Wilhelm II, German Emperor Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Emp ...

. Prince William served as a

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

cavalry officer before becoming a captain in the

German General Staff The German General Staff, originally the Prussian General Staff and officially the Great General Staff (german: Großer Generalstab), was a full-time body at the head of the Prussian Army and later, the German Army, responsible for the continuou ...

in 1911.

Candidate for the Albanian throne

Prince William's aunt, Queen Elisabeth of Romania, on learning that the

Great Power A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power in ...

s were looking for an aristocrat to rule over Albania, asked

Take Ionescu Take or Tache Ionescu (; born Dumitru Ghiță Ioan and also known as Demetriu G. Ionnescu; – 21 June 1922) was a Romanian centrist politician, journalist, lawyer and diplomat, who also enjoyed reputation as a short story author. Starting his ...

to attempt to persuade them to appoint her nephew to the post. Great Arms of Prince Wilhelm of Wied

Eventually the European Great Powers —

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Grea ...

, the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 19 ...

, the German Empire, the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

and the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and f ...

— selected William, a member of the German princely house of Wied, and related to the Queen of the Netherlands to rule over the newly independent Albania. The announcement was made in November 1913 and the decision was accepted by

Ismail Qemali Ismail Qemal bey Vlora, mostly known as Ismail Qemali (; 16 January 184426 January 1919), was an Albanian diplomat, politician, rilindas, statesman and the Founding Father of modern Albania, and one of the most famous Southern Albanian perso ...

, the head of the provisional government. The offer of the Albanian throne was first made to him in the spring of 1913 but he turned it down. Despite rejecting the offer, the Austrians put pressure on Prince William in an attempt to change his mind. Kaiser Wilhelm was not pleased with the selection of the prince as the king of Albania; considering the choice to be unwise. The Kaiser claimed that he tried to have "a Mohammedan Prince chosen, if possible". Western Europeans considered Albania to be a poor, lawless and backward country in 1913, and some foreign opinion was scathing. The French press referred to Wilhelm as "le Prince de Vide", meaning "the prince of emptiness"; vide being a

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

on his homeland of Wied.

Prince of Albania

On 7 February 1914, William let the Great Powers know that he would accept the throne. On 21 February 1914 a delegation of Albanian notables led by

Essad Pasha Toptani Essad Pasha Toptani or Esad Pasha Toptani ( sq, Esad Pashë Toptani; 1863/4 or 1875 – 13 June 1920), mainly known as Essad Pasha, was an Ottoman army officer who served as the Albanian deputy in the Ottoman Parliament. He was a prominent po ...

and Arbëreshë ones (headed by Luigi Baffa and Vincenzo Baffa Trasci), made a formal request, which he accepted thereby becoming ''By the grace of the powers and the will of the people the Prince (Mbret) of Albania''. One month after accepting the throne on 7 March, he arrived in his provisional capital of

Durrës Durrës ( , ; sq-definite, Durrësi) is the second most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Durrës County and Durrës Municipality. It is located on a flat plain along the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast between the mouths of ...

and started to organise his government, appointing

Turhan Pasha Përmeti Turhan Pasha Përmeti (19 December 1846 – 18 February 1927) was an Ottoman-Albanian politician, who served as the 2nd Prime Minister of Albania. He was also in service of the Ottoman state and held the title of Pasha of the Ottoman Empire. Am ...

to form the first Albanian cabinet. This first cabinet was dominated by aristocrats (prince

defence and foreign affairs, prince Gjergj Adhamidhi bej Frashëri finances, prince Aziz Pasha Vrioni agriculture). His brief reign proved a turbulent one. Immediately following his arrival revolts of Muslims broke out in central Albania against his Chief Minister, Essad Pasha, and against foreign domination that was not Turkish.

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

encouraged the formation of a separatist provisional government in North Epirus. William's position was also undermined by his own officials, notably Essad Pasha himself, who actually accepted money from Italy to finance a revolt and to stage a coup against William. The plot was exposed, Pasha was arrested on 19 May 1914, tried for treason and sentenced to death. Only the intervention of the Italian government saved his life and he escaped to exile in Italy. The outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

presented more problems for Prince William as

demanded that he send Albanian soldiers to fight alongside them. When he refused, citing the neutrality of Albania in the Treaty of London, the

remuneration Remuneration is the pay or other financial compensation provided in exchange for an employee's ''services performed'' (not to be confused with giving (away), or donating, or the act of providing to). A number of complementary benefits in addition ...

that he had been receiving was cut off.

Exile and death

Prince William left the country on 3 September 1914 originally heading to

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

. Despite leaving Albania he did so insisting that he remained head of state. In his proclamation he informed the people that "he deemed it necessary to absent himself temporarily." He returned to Germany and rejoined the Imperial German Army under the pseudonym "Count of Kruja". The name derived from the city of Krujë in Albania. When the Austro-Hungarians forced the Serbian and Montenegrin armies out of Northern Albania in the early months of 1916, William's hopes of being restored were raised although ultimately they came to nothing. After the war, he still harboured ambitions that he might be restored, but the participants at the Paris Peace Conference were unlikely to restore the throne to someone who had just fought against them. Although several of the factions competing for power in post-war Albania billed themselves as regencies for William, once central authority was definitively restored in 1924, the country was declared a republic on 31 January 1925, officially ending his reign. With the monarchy in Albania set to be restored with President Ahmet Zogu becoming king, Prince William reaffirmed his claim to the throne announcing he still claimed the throne for himself and his heirs. Prince William died in

Predeal Predeal (; hu, Predeál) is a town in Brașov County, Transylvania, Romania. Predeal, a mountain resort town, is the highest town in Romania. It is located in the Prahova Valley at an elevation of over . The town administers three villages ...

, near

Sinaia Sinaia () is a town and a mountain resort in Prahova County, Romania. It is situated in the historical region of Muntenia. The town was named after the Sinaia Monastery of 1695, around which it was built. The monastery, in turn, is named aft ...

, in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

, leaving his son, Hereditary Prince Carol Victor, as heir to his Albanian claims. He was buried at the in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

Marriage and children

On 30 November 1906 at

Waldenburg, Saxony Waldenburg is a town in the district Zwickau in Saxony, Germany. The castle was owned by the House of Schönburg from 1378 until 1945. The pottery town of Waldenburg lies in the valley of the Zwickauer Mulde. The environment is characterized by f ...

, Prince William married Princess Sophie of Schönburg-Waldenburg (1885–1936); she was distantly related to the Orthodox

Ghica The Ghica family ( ro, Ghica; sq, Gjika; el, Γκίκας, ''Gikas'') was a noble family active in Wallachia, Moldavia and in the Kingdom of Romania, between the 17th and 19th centuries. The Ghica family produced many voivodes of Wallachia and M ...

family of Albanian origin.http://www.ghika.net/Histoire/Question_Orient.pdf They had two children: * Princess Marie Eleonore (1909–1956) ⚭ Prince Alfred of Schönburg-Waldenburg (1905-1941), son of Prince Heinrich of Schönburg-Waldenburg and Princess Olga of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg ⚭ Ion Octavian Bunea (1899-1977) * Hereditary Prince Carol Victor (1913–1973) ⚭ Eileen de Coppet (1922-1985)

Honours

Gallery

File:Wied 4668751141 31471205f5 o.jpg, 1909 File:Albania 5050938671 1eb7eb6b79 o.jpg, 1913 (circa) File:Prince and Princess of Albania 5051566232 1c17f6c1bc o.jpg, 1913 File:Dmme12.jpg, Prince Wilhelm of Wied,

Isa Boletini Isa Boletini (; 15 January 186423 or 24 January 1916) was an Albanian revolutionary commander and politician and rilindas from Kosovo. As a young man, he joined the Albanian nationalist League of Prizren and participated in a battle against Ot ...

and officers of the

International Gendarmerie The International Gendarmerie was the first law enforcement agency of the Principality of Albania. It was established by the decision of the ambassadors of the six Great Powers that participated in the London Peace Conference. This decision was m ...

: Duncan Heaton-Armstrong and Colonel Thomson near Durrës in June 1914 File:Wilhelm zu Wied, Prince (Mbret) of Albania.jpg, 1914 File:Princ Vidi (portret).jpg, 1914 File:Dmme02.jpg, Prince Wilhelm on horseback in front of the palace in Durrës. File:Royal Monogram of Prince Wilhelm of Wied.svg, Royal Monogram

Ancestry

In popular culture

Prince Wilhelm is portrayed in the 2008 Albanian film ''

Time of the Comet ''Time of the Comet'' ( sq, Koha e Kometës) is a 2008 Albanian historical drama/black comedy film adapted from the 1985 novel by Albanian author Ismail Kadare titled ''Black Year'' ( sq, Viti i Mbrapshtë). The film was directed by Fatmir Koçi, ...

(based on

Ismail Kadare Ismail Kadare (; spelled Ismaïl Kadaré in French; born on 28 January 1936) is an Albanian novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter, and playwright. He is a leading international literary figure and intellectual. He focused on poetry until the pu ...

's novel "The dark year" (Viti i mbrapshtë)'', which takes place during his reign. He is played by the German actor Thomas Heinze.

References

External links

Wilhelm zu Wied:Memorandum on Albania
* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilhelm, Prince of Albania 1876 births 1945 deaths People from Neuwied People from the Rhine Province Members of the Prussian House of Lords Albanian monarchs Protestant monarchs House of Wied-Neuwied Albanian nobility German Army personnel of World War I Grand Crosses of the Order of the Crown (Romania) Commanders Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order German emigrants to Albania