A Royal Wedding in Tirana: The Marriage of Crown Prince Leka and Crown Princess Elia

On 8 October 2016, HRH Crown Prince Leka of the Albanians married his fiancée Elia Zaharia. This was the first royal wedding in Albania since the wedding of the groom’s grandparents, King Zog and Countess Géraldine Apponyi de Nagy-Appony in 1938. The union of Crown Prince Leka and Crown Princess Elia was attended by a plethora of royals from around the world in addition to other well-wishers. Members of the royal and imperial families of Austria, Belgium, Egypt, Georgia, Great Britain, Greece, Iran, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Morocco, Parma, Portugal, Prussia, Romania, Russia, Savoy, Serbia, Spain and the Two-Sicilies, as well as countless noble guests, all traveled to Tirana to witness this happy occasion in the Royal House of Zogu. My mother and I were in Albania to cover the wedding for the European Royal History Journal (ERHJ), as well as to the celebrate the 60th birthday of my mother, which coincided with the day of the princely couple’s marriage. This date wa