Wilhelm View

Wilhelm View
Wilhelm View
	him. Wilhelm Friedrich Heinrich Prinz zu Wied
	; Wilhelm View. 1912 photo
	March 7, 1914 - September 3, 1914; (under the name Skanderbeg II )
Predecessor	Ismail Kemali as the previous head of the Albanian state; George Skanderbeg as the last monarch of medieval Albania
Successor	Essad Pasha Toptani as the next head of the Albanian state; Zog I as the king of Albanians
Birth	March 26, 1876 ; Neuwied , German Empire
Death	April 18, 1945 (69 years old); Bucharest , Romania
Kind	View
Father	Wilhelm zu View
Mother	Mary of the Netherlands
Spouse	Sofia Schonburg-Waldenburg
Children	Maria Eleanor, Carol Victor
Religion
Monogram

Wilhelm Vid (full name Wilhelm Friedrich Heinrich zu Vid ; German: Wilhelm Friedrich Heinrich Prinz zu Wied ; March 26, 1876 - April 18, 1945 ) - the first and only prince ( mbret ^[1] ) of Albania . Representative of the princely family Vidov , nephew of Elizabeth , the first Queen of Romania.

Life

Born and raised in Rhine Germany . On March 7, 1914, Prince William Weed accepted the offer to take the Albanian throne. He was pushed to this by the German elite of Austria-Hungary , which in 1908 managed to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina , despite the opposition of Serbia and Russia . Austria-Hungary sought to expand access to the sea by strengthening its influence on Albania. But here her interests clashed with Italy , who wanted to turn Albania into her colony, as well as with Greece , since in southern Albania ( Northern Epirus ) there has been a large Greek minority since early antiquity.

After arriving in Durres, William ruled Albania from February 21 to September 3, 1914 . At this time, part of the Albanian ministers began to actively cooperate with Italy, from where funds were received for organizing a coup in Albania. Taking advantage of relief from Wilhelm, Greece occupied the south of Albania.

Fearing for his life, Wilhelm left the country and returned to Germany, where he continued to call himself the “Albanian prince”. Despite his short reign, William formally remained the Albanian prince for more than 11 years, until January 31, 1925 , when a republic was officially proclaimed in the country . Wilhelm Weed spent the last years of his life in Romania and was buried in the Lutheran cemetery in Bucharest .

Marriage and children

November 30, 1906 in Waldenburg, Wilhelm married Sofia Schoenburg-Waldenburg (1885-1936). They had two children:

Maria Eleanor zu Weed (1909-1956); 1st husband (since 1937 ): Prince Alfred von Schoenburg-Waldenburg (1905-1941), 2nd husband (since 1949 ): Jon Octavian Bunia (1899-1977)
Karol Viktor zu Vid , “Crown Prince of Albania” (1913-1973); since 1966, married to Eileen Johnston (1922-1985)

Rewards

Order of the Black Eagle (Albania) (1914)
Order of St. Alexander Nevsky (Russia, February 14 [27], 1914)
Order of the North Star ( Sweden , 1896 )
Order of the Legion of Honor ( France , 1914)
Order of the Red Eagle ( Prussia , 1914)
Order of Leopold (Austria) (1914)
Order of the Saints of Mauritius and Lazarus (Italy, 1914)
Order of Carol I (Romania, 1914)
Royal Victorian Order ( UK )
Order of St. John of Jerusalem

Notes

↑ The title mbret in the Albanian language corresponds to the title king , which Wilhelm Vid was considered to be inside Albania, however, in international legal relations he figured only in princely dignity.

Literature

Iskenderov P.A. Wilhelm View // Questions of History. - 2012. - No. 12. - S. 29-43.

[1] The title mbret in the Albanian language corresponds to the title king , which Wilhelm Vid was considered to be inside Albania, however, in international legal relations he figured only in princely dignity.