William, Prince of Albania 214895 222841219 2008-07-01T11:12:41Z BOTarate 5870361 robot Modifying: [[pl:Wilhelm zu Wied]] {{Infobox Monarch | name =William | title =Prince of Albania | image =[[Image:William of Wied.jpg|200px]] | reign =[[7 March]], [[1914]] – [[3 September]], [[1914]] | othertitles =Prince of Wied | consort =[[Sophie of Schönburg-Waldenburg]] | issue =Princess Marie Eleonore,<br> [[Carol Victor, Hereditary Prince of Albania|Hereditary Prince Carol Victor]] | royal house =[[House of Wied]] | father =[[William, 5th Prince of Wied]] | mother =[[Princess Marie of the Netherlands]] | date of birth =[[March 26]], [[1876]] | place of birth =[[Neuwied]], [[German Empire]] | date of death ={{Death date and age|1945|04|18|1876|03|26}} | place of death =[[Predeal]], [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]] | place of burial =[[Biserica Luterana]], [[Bucharest]], [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]] |}} '''Prince William Friedrich Heinrich of Wied, Prince of Albania''' ([[26 March]] [[1876]] &ndash; [[18 April]] [[1945]]) reigned briefly as sovereign of [[Principality of Albania|Albania]] from [[March 7]], [[1914]] to [[September 3]], [[1914]] when he left for exile. His reign officially came to an end on [[January 31]] [[1925]] when Albania was declared a republic. Outside the country and in diplomatic correspondence, he was styled ''sovereign [[prince]],'' but in Albania he was referred to as ''mbret,'' or king. (See [[King of Albania]] for more details.) He was also styled '''Skanderbeg II''', in homage to [[Skanderbeg]].<ref> {{cite book |title=Albania in the Twentieth Century: a history |first=Owen |last=Pearson |page=p.568 |year=2006 |isbn=1845110137 |publisher=[[I.B. Tauris]] }} </ref> ==Family and early life== Born in [[Neuwied]], he was the third son of [[William, 5th Prince of Wied]] (brother of [[Elisabeth of Wied|Queen Elisabeth of Romania]]) and his wife [[Princess Marie of the Netherlands]]. His paternal grandparents were [[Hermann, Prince of Wied]] and Marie Wilhelmine Friederike Elisabeth of Nassau-Weilburg. Marie was a daughter of [[Wilhelm, Duke of Nassau]] and his first wife Charlotte Louise of Saxe-Altenburg. Charlotte was a daughter of [[Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg]] and [[Charlotte Georgine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz]]. His maternal grandparents were [[Prince Frederik of the Netherlands]] and [[Princess Louise of Prussia (1808-1870)|Princess Louise of Prussia]]. Louise was a daughter of [[Frederick William III of Prussia]] and [[Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz]]. Prince William served as a [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]] cavalry officer before becoming a captain in the [[German general staff]] in 1911.<ref name=Pearson>{{cite book| last =Pearson| first =Owen| title =Albania in the Twentieth Century: a history| publisher =I.B.Tauris| date =2006| pages =50, 64, 292| isbn =1845110137 }}</ref> ==Candidate for the Albanian throne== Prince William's aunt Queen Elisabeth of Romania on learning that the [[Great Power]]s were looking for a prince to rule over Albania asked [[Take Ionescu]] to attempt to persuade the great powers to appoint her nephew to the post.<ref name=Pearson/> Eventually the European Great Powers [[Austria-Hungary]], the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]], the [[French Third Republic]], the [[German Empire]], the [[Russian Empire]] and the [[Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946)|Kingdom of Italy]] selected William, a member of the German princely house of [[Wied]], to rule over newly-independent Albania with an announcement made in November 1913. The decision was accepted by [[Ismail Qemali]] the head of the Provisional government.<ref name=Pearson/> 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.<ref name =Heaton-Armstrong>{{cite book| last =Heaton-Armstrong| first =Duncan| title =The Six Month Kingdom: Albania 1914| publisher =I.B.Tauris| date =2005| pages =xii, 12| isbn =1850437610 }}</ref> ==Prince of Albania== [[Image:Prince Wilhelm of Albania.jpg|thumb|Prince William and his wife Princess Sophie arriving in Albania on March 7 1914]] He let the Great Powers know on February 7, 1914 that he would accept the throne. On [[February 21]] [[1914]] a delegation of Albanian notables 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 March 7, he arrived in his provisional capital of [[Durrës]] and started to organise his government, appointing [[Turhan Pasha Përmeti]] to form the first Albanian cabinet.<ref name =Heaton-Armstrong/> His brief reign proved a turbulent one. Immediately following his arrival revolts broke out in central Albania against his Chief Minister, [[Essad Pasha]], and against foreign domination. [[Kingdom of Greece|Greece]] encouraged the formation of "provisional government of [[Epirus (region)|North Epirus]]". Although an agreement was made to grant extra rights to the Greek minority, the [[Hellenic Army]] occupied Southern Albania excluding [[Berat]] and [[Korçë]]. William's position was also undermined by own officials, notably Essad Pasha himself, who accepted money from Italy to finance a revolt and to stage a coup against William. Pasha was arrested on [[May 19]] [[1914]] and tried for treason and sentenced to death. Only the intervention of Italy saved his life and he escaped to Italy in exile.<ref name=Pearson/> The outbreak of [[World War I]] presented more problems for Prince William as Austria-Hungary demanded that he send Albanian soldiers to fight alongside them. When he refused, citing the neutrality of Albania in the [[Treaty of London (1913)|Treaty of London]], the [[remuneration]] that he had been receiving was cut off.<ref name=Kola>{{cite book| last = Kola| first =Paulin| title =The Search for Greater Albania| publisher =C. Hurst & Co. Publishers| date =2003| pages =16| isbn =1850655960 }}</ref> ==Exile and death== [[Image:Grabstein von Wilhelm zu Wied.JPG|thumb|His tombstone in the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] church in [[Bucharest]]]] With Albania in a state of civil war since July 1914, Greece occupying the south of the country, the great powers at war with one another, his regime collapsed, and so Prince William left the country on September 3, 1914 originally heading to [[Venice]].<ref>{{cite book| last = Springer| first =Elisabeth| coauthors = Leopold Kammerhofer| title =Archiv und Forschung| publisher =Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag| date =1993| pages =346| isbn =3486559893 }}</ref> Despite leaving Albania he did so insisting that he remained head of state.<ref name=Kola/> He returned to Germany and rejoined the [[German Army (German Empire)|Imperial German Army]] under the pseudonym "Count of Kruja".<ref>{{cite book| last = Jacques| first =Edwin E.| title =The Albanians: An Ethnic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present| publisher =McFarland & Company| date =1995| pages =358| isbn =0899509320 }}</ref> The name derived from the city of [[Krujë]] in Albania. When the Austro-Hungarians forced the [[Kingdom of Serbia|Serbian]] and [[Kingdom of Montenegro|Montenegrian]] 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, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] were unlikely to restore to the throne someone who had just fought against them. Although several of the factions competing for power in postwar Albania billed themselves as regencies for William, once central authority was definitively restored in 1924 the country was declared a [[republic]] on January 31 1925 officially ending his reign.<ref>[http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Albania.htm Worldstatesmen]</ref> 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.<ref name=Pearson/> Prince William died in [[Predeal]], near [[Sinaia]], in [[Romania]] leaving his son [[Carol Victor, Hereditary Prince of Albania|Hereditary Prince Carol Victor]] as heir to his Albanian claims.<ref>{{cite book| last = Pearson| first =Owen| title =Albania in Occupation and War: From Fascism to Communism 1940-1945| publisher =I.B.Tauris| date =2006| pages =436| isbn =1845111044 }}</ref> He was buried in the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] church in [[Bucharest]]. ==Marriage and children== On [[30 November]] [[1906]] at [[Waldenburg, Saxony]] Prince William married Princess [[Sophie of Schönburg-Waldenburg]] (1885-1936), they had two children.<ref>[http://pages.prodigy.net/ptheroff/gotha/albania.html Online Gotha]</ref> *Princess Marie Eleonore (1909-1956) *[[Carol Victor, Hereditary Prince of Albania|Hereditary Prince Carol Victor]] (1913-1973). ==Ancestry== <center>{{ahnentafel top|Ancestors of William of Wied|width=100%}} {{ahnentafel-compact5 |style=font-size: 90%; line-height: 110%; |border=1 |boxstyle=padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0; |boxstyle_1=background-color: #ADB3D3; |boxstyle_2=background-color: #B1BAE9; |boxstyle_3=background-color: #B8C2F2; |boxstyle_4=background-color: #d6dfff; |1= '''[[William, Prince of Albania]]''' |2= [[William, 5th Prince of Wied|Wilhelm, 5th Prince of Wied]] |3= [[Princess Marie of the Netherlands|Marie of the Netherlands]] |4= [[Hermann, Prince of Wied]] |5= Marie Wilhelmine of Nassau-Weilburg |6= [[Prince Frederick of the Netherlands|Frederik of the Netherlands]] |7= [[Princess Louise of Prussia (1808-1870)|Luise of Prussia]] |8= [[Johann Karl August, Prince of Wied]] |9= Sophie Auguste of Solms-Braunfels |10=[[Wilhelm, Duke of Nassau]] |11=Luise of Saxe-Altenburg |12=[[William I of the Netherlands|Willem I of the Netherlands]] |13=[[Wilhelmine of Prussia (1774-1837)|Wilhelmina of Prussia]] |14=[[Frederick William III of Prussia|Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia]] |15=[[Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz|Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz]] }}</center> {{ahnentafel bottom}}</center> ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.albanianhistory.net/texts/AH1917.html Wilhelm zu Wied:Memorandum on Albania] *[http://genealogy.euweb.cz/runkel/runkel6.html A listing of Princes of Wied since 1791 and their descendants] {{start}} {{s-hou|House of Wied|March 26|1876|April 18|1945}} {{s-reg|}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Fejzi Bej Alizoti]]|as=Chairman of the Central Government}} {{s-ttl|title=[[List of Albanian monarchs|Prince of Albania]]|years=[[7 March]] [[1914]] – [[3 September]] [[1914]]}} {{s-aft|after=[[Qamil Musa Haxhi Feza]]|as=Chairman of the Administrative Commission}} {{s-pre}} {{s-new|reason=}} {{s-tul|title=[[List of Albanian monarchs|Prince of Albania]]|years=1914&ndash;1945|reason=}} {{s-aft|after=[[Carol Victor, Hereditary Prince of Albania|Hereditary Prince Carol Victor]]}} {{end}} {{Presidents of Albania}} [[Category:1876 births]] [[Category:1945 deaths]] [[Category:People from the Rhine Province]] [[Category:Albanian monarchs]] [[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order]] [[Category:Protestant monarchs]] [[bg:Вилхелм фон Вид]] [[ca:Guillem Frederic de Wied]] [[de:Wilhelm zu Wied]] [[et:Wilhelm (Albaania)]] [[es:Guillermo Federico de Wied]] [[fr:Guillaume de Wied]] [[hu:I. Vilmos albán király]] [[nl:Wilhelm zu Wied]] [[ja:ヴィルヘルム・フリードリヒ・ツー・ヴィート]] [[pl:Wilhelm zu Wied]] [[pt:Guilherme de Wied]] [[ro:Wilhelm de Wied]] [[sv:Wilhelm av Wied]]