King Zog Named Himself The King Of Albania, Then Survived Over 50 Assassination Attempts
- Daniel Holland
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Few monarchs in history can claim to have drawn a pistol on their would-be assassins while leaving the opera in full evening dress. Yet that was just another night for King Zog I of Albania, a ruler who crowned himself king, puffed his way through hundreds of cigarettes a day, and somehow survived more than fifty attempts on his life.
King Zog’s story is one of ambition, paranoia, and survival against the odds. To some Albanians he was a stabilising force in a chaotic land, to others a self-serving dictator who mortgaged his country to foreign powers. Either way, his life makes for one of the most extraordinary royal tales of the twentieth century.
Early Life and Clan Politics
Ahmet Muhtar Zogolli was born on 8 October 1895 in the rugged Mat district of central Albania. His family were wealthy beys, tribal chieftains who traced their lineage back to Ottoman officials. Albania at the time was part of the crumbling Ottoman Empire, a patchwork of mountain clans and rural villages, where loyalty to family and tribe mattered more than loyalty to any distant state.
As a boy, Zog was educated at Istanbul’s Galatasaray College, one of the empire’s most prestigious schools. Yet he returned to Albania in 1912, just as the country declared independence from Ottoman rule. It was a turbulent childhood: one historian described him as “half mountain warlord, half modern politician.”
That dual identity would shape his whole career.
Rise to Power in the 1920s
Albania’s early years of independence were chaotic. Governments rose and fell with dizzying speed. Zog, drawing on his family’s influence in Mat, quickly carved out a role in politics. He became Minister of the Interior in 1920, responsible for internal security, a fitting post for a man who would one day need extraordinary levels of protection himself.
But in 1924, reformist bishop-turned-politician Fan Noli briefly seized power in a democratic movement. Zog fled into exile, regrouping in Yugoslavia. By December, backed with Yugoslav arms and money, he stormed back into Albania and ousted Noli. His opponents sneered that he had returned “with Serb gold and bayonets,” but Zog was now the undisputed strongman of Albania.
From President to King Zog
In 1925, Zog declared Albania a republic and became its president. Three years later, in a dramatic twist, he abolished the republic and crowned himself King Zog I, the first and only monarch in Albanian history.
The coronation in September 1928 was heavy with symbolism. Zog swore his oath not on a Bible or Koran but on both, reflecting Albania’s mix of Muslims and Christians. Foreign journalists were fascinated: “Europe has gained a king without a crown prince,” wrote one British newspaper.
Zog himself justified the move bluntly:
“Only I can bring order to this land torn by factions.”
A Life of Paranoia
As king, Zog cultivated a reputation for modernisation , building schools, roads, and attempting to unify Albania’s many tribes. Yet his rule was also marked by paranoia.
He surrounded himself with a large personal guard and refused to eat food unless it was prepared under supervision. He often dined off gold plates, a sign of wealth in a country still mired in poverty. Most famously, he chain-smoked up to 200 cigarettes a day, rarely letting one burn out before lighting another.
When asked why he tolerated such habits despite the constant threats, he reportedly shrugged:
“In Albania, a king must be ready for bullets as well as crowns.”
Assassination Attempts: A King Under Siege
No account of Zog’s reign is complete without the extraordinary number of attempts made on his life, more than fifty by some estimates. These ranged from poisoned coffee to grenades hurled at his motorcade.
The Vienna Opera Shooting (1931)
The most famous attempt came on 20 February 1931, outside the Vienna State Opera. Zog and his entourage were leaving a performance when two Albanian émigrés opened fire.
Austrian newspapers reported the scene vividly:
“The King drew his pistol with astonishing speed, firing at his attackers in full evening dress, as the crowd scattered in panic.”
It was a surreal moment: a monarch duelling gunmen on the steps of an opera house. Zog survived unscathed, while one of his aides was injured.
Other Plots
Earlier, in 1924, he had already been wounded in the hand during an attack in Tirana. In 1927, a grenade was thrown at his motorcade. In 1932, émigrés in Budapest plotted to kidnap him at the railway station. Each plot only reinforced his reliance on guards and his growing paranoia.
As one Italian diplomat observed: “Zog never turns his back to a door.”
The Shadow of Italy
By the late 1920s, Zog’s regime was heavily dependent on foreign loans, and most of that money came from Benito Mussolini’s Italy. Italy financed infrastructure projects, supplied military advisors, and gained increasing influence in Tirana.
Zog tried to balance Italian power against Yugoslavia and Greece, but Mussolini’s grip tightened. Treaties signed in 1926 and 1927 effectively made Albania a protectorate in all but name.
Zog’s refusal to become a mere Italian puppet angered Mussolini, who began plotting direct annexation.
Marriage to Géraldine Apponyi
In 1938, Zog made a bold move to boost his dynasty’s prestige. He married Countess Géraldine Apponyi, a 22-year-old Hungarian noblewoman of Catholic background. Known as the “White Rose of Hungary,” she was celebrated for her beauty.
Their wedding in Tirana was a lavish affair, attended by European royalty and diplomats. Géraldine later recalled Zog’s words to her on their wedding day: “From this day, you are the Queen of my people. Albania is poor, but our honour is rich.”
The marriage produced one child, Crown Prince Leka, born in April 1939. But the timing could not have been worse.
The Italian Invasion of 1939
On 7 April 1939, Mussolini’s forces invaded Albania. Zog’s ill-equipped army put up little resistance. The king, his wife Géraldine, and their newborn son fled into exile, carrying as much of Albania’s gold reserves as they could.
Foreign newspapers mocked him as the “King Who Ran,” but Zog himself insisted the fight was hopeless. Italy proclaimed Albania part of its empire, and Victor Emmanuel III of Italy was declared King of Albania.
Exile and Later Years
Zog’s exile was long and restless. He moved from Greece to Turkey, then to London, and later to Egypt, where King Farouk hosted him. During the Second World War he tried to rally support for a return to Albania, but the Allies had little interest.
After the war, communist partisans under Enver Hoxha took control of Albania. Zog’s hopes of restoration were gone. He eventually settled in France, living quietly in a villa near Paris until his death in 1961.
When asked whether he regretted crowning himself king, Zog reportedly smiled and said: “Better to be remembered as a king who lost his throne than a president who lost his country.”
Legacy
King Zog remains a divisive figure. To his supporters, he was a strongman who brought a fragile state some measure of stability. To his critics, he was a self-appointed monarch who sold his country’s independence to foreign powers.
The Bolsheviks saw his fall as proof of monarchy’s corruption. Yet many Albanians today remember him with a mix of fascination and grudging respect. In 2012, his remains were repatriated from France to Tirana, where he was reburied with full honours.
As one historian put it: “Zog was not a great king, but he was Albania’s only king — and that makes him unforgettable.”
Conclusion
King Zog I’s life had all the drama of a novel: tribal intrigue, self-coronation, opera-house gunfights, royal weddings, and exile. He may not have saved Albania from its troubles, but he certainly gave it one of the most remarkable chapters in its history.
In a century full of monarchs who lost their crowns, Zog’s story stands out for sheer audacity. He was, as one journalist wrote at the time,
“a king who ruled with one hand on his crown and the other on his revolver.”
Sources
Jason Tomes, King Zog: Self-Made Monarch of Albania (2003)
Miranda Vickers, The Albanians: A Modern History (1999)
Bernd J. Fischer, King Zog and the Struggle for Stability in Albania (1984)
Contemporary reports in The Times (London), Neue Freie Presse (Vienna), 1930s press coverage
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