TIRANA, Oct. 8 – Prince Leka II, the grandson of Albania’s former King Zog, has married his long-time fiancà©e Elia Zaharia in Tirana in a ceremony was filled with royal pageantry and attended by representatives of around 20 royal families from across the world.
Prince Michael of Kent, the first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Là©a of Belgium as well Queen Sofía of Spain were in attendance at the lavish ceremony.
The head of the monarchist party Legality Movement, Sulejman Gjanaj said that the weeding ensured the legacy of King Zog, Leka’s grandfather who during Communism was considered a traitor, stripped from power and removed from history books.
According to Gjanaj, the wedding of Prince Leka II also endorsed the status of the Albanian royal family.
“This is the best reply to all those who have falsified the history of our country and have denied the legitimate rights of the royal family,” Gjanaj told a regional news portal, Balkan Insight.
Members of the royal family attend state ceremonies although they lack special status.
Prince Leka II was born in 1982 and spent his childhood in South Africa. He returned to Albania at the age 20.
He is the grandson of King Zog I, who ruled the country from 1928 until 1939. His parents are Leka, Crown Prince of Albania (King Leka I of Albania) and Susan Cullen-Ward born in Australia.
Zog I, born Ahmet Muhtar Zogolli, lived in exile in Paris until his death on April 9, 1961. His son King Leka I passed away in 2011 in Tirana, leaving Prince Leka II the sole heir to the Albanian crown.
Prince Leka II who graduated from Sandhurst Military Academy in 2006, speaks Albanian, English, Italian and some Zulu. He advises Albania’s president Bujar Nishani and manages his family’s properties as well as the Queen Geraldine foundation, which supports poor families, orphans and children in need.
Prince Leka II met his wife actress, Elia Zaharia in France where she pursued her studies at National Conservatory of Bordeaux. They got engaged in Paris in 2010.
