'I know that my mother always wanted me to visit Australia': HRH Prince Leka II of Albania exclusively opens up about royal duties
It all began about 18 months ago, when the proclamation of Tasmanian-born Mary Donaldson as Queen of Denmark revived interest in her fairytale meet-cute with Prince Frederik in that Sydney pub all those years ago.
Few journalists bothered to mention that decades earlier, another Aussie girl met a Crown Prince in Sydney.
Their love story did not end in a proclamation ceremony or fireworks, but decades of exile and upheaval that saw them perpetually moving around the world.
The couple had one son, who today serves as the head of the House of Zogu after finally being allowed to return to Albania.
On the evening of our Zoom call, I half expect to hear word from the royal household that the call is off and the Crown Prince would need to reschedule or cancel altogether.
But five minutes before the scheduled start of our interview, I receive a notification confirming the Crown Prince has already logged on and is in the virtual waiting room.
'I hope that the hour is not inconvenient for you,' he said.
The sandy-haired Crown Prince, 43, is speaking from his bright and well-appointed home office inside the royal residence in Tirana.
Our interview coincides with high season for tourism in Albania, which is currently one of the fastest-growing tourist destinations in Europe.
This year alone, thousands of Aussies will visit Albania as part of their European getaways for the first time, most likely unaware of the Crown Prince's family link to Australia.
'Five years ago before the pandemic, we had three million tourists and I think the Ministry of Culture foresees 11 million tourists this year,' Leka II said.
'Albania is a country which is in a transition.
'We're a country which has beautiful beaches - we share the Ionian sea with Greece - and we have the ancient history of all the empires, from the Romans, the Persians, and the Ottomans, to our own dynasties in history.'
The history of the monarchy in Albania is a relatively short but tragic tale of a country caught in the crossroads of ideology - first fascism, then communism.
Albania was officially proclaimed a monarchy in 1928, at which time Leka II's grandfather acceded to the throne as Zog I, King of the Albanians.
In 1939, Zog I and his wife Queen Geraldine were forced into exile with their newborn son Leka I (Leka II's father) after Italy invaded the country and Benito Mussolini barred the King from returning to Albania.
After the war, a communist regime was installed and Albania was largely sealed off to the outside world, leaving the royal family effectively stateless.
Decades of harsh communist rule under dictator Enver Hoxha followed before the country transitioned to a democracy in 1991.
In 2003, the Albanian Parliament passed a law recognising the royal family and granting them a special status, which enabled the family to come home without restoring them in an official capacity.
'It's the first step in giving certain amounts of recognition and allowing us to play a role within a society while being part of the diplomatic life of the society as well,' Leka II said.
Today, the southern European country of about 2.7 million people is enjoying a major economic upswing and is eyeing accession into the EU in the coming years.
The country now enjoys relative political stability and a building boom is currently transforming the face of Tirana.
Of all the non-reigning monarchies in Europe, the Crown Prince has arguably carved out the most compelling role for a hereditary royal living in a modern republic.
He enjoys limited recognition within Albania's present political structure and works as an informal roving ambassador for the country abroad.
Just weeks ago, Leka II was made an honorary ambassador to the State of Louisiana by Republican Governor Jeff Landry.
In 2016, the Albanian government even gave permission for the royal family to use the former Royal Palace – now the president's official residence - for Leka II's wedding to actress Elia Zaharia.
The guest list featured a Madame Tussaud's-worthy selection of reigning and non-reigning royals from across Europe, including Queen Sofia of Spain and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.
The royal couple divorced last year but continue to co-parent their daughter Princess Geraldine – the presumed heir to the Albanian throne.
In recent years, some of the other royal properties have been returned to the family, including the impressive Royal Villa of Durrës in Albania's second largest city.
The former summer residence sits atop a hill overlooking the Adriatic Sea but has fallen into ruin after decades of neglect and earthquakes in the area.
Restoring the crumbling residences is an 'incredible challenge' for Leka II. So much so that he recently opted to sell the Royal Villa to a businessman who can properly fund the restoration.
'The new owner is a very, very successful businessman, and he's taking up the incredible challenge to rehabilitate, to rebuild the villa, which unfortunately due to the earthquakes and due to mismanagement and being destroyed, really needs that TLC,' he said.
While Leka II credits his father Leka I for instilling in him a drive to serve the country, he was equally influenced by his 'very loving' mother Princess Susan.
Leka II says he is 'very proud' of his Australian heritage and credits his late mother's Aussie roots for instilling in him both 'openness' and an uncanny ability to 'read the room'.
Born Susan Barbara Cullen-Ward in Sydney, Leka II's mother came from a good eastern suburbs family before meeting the exiled Crown Prince of Albania at a dinner party in the mid-1970s.
The couple wed in a small civil ceremony in Biarritz in 1975 and lived in exile in Spain, Zimbabwe and finally South Africa, where they welcomed Leka II in 1982.
'My mother was a fourth-generation Australian,' he said.
'I believe - and I'm not certain about this so maybe some verification could be made - that she was a descendent of Banjo Paterson.'
Leka II says he hopes to visit Australia soon and reconnect with cousins and relatives from the Cullen and Ward families.
'My cousins are all pushing for me to come and visit hopefully next year,' he said.
'I know that my mother always wanted me to visit Australia.'
Leka II was largely raised in exile in South Africa with his parents in what one 1980s feature by The Australian Women's Weekly gently described as 'reduced circumstances'.
Growing up, nobody at school knew Leka II's true identity and he only got a sense of his royal lineage when interacting with the Albanian diaspora on holidays to Europe.
I ask the Crown Prince whether his relatively normal upbringing was a blessing in some ways.
After all, Prince Harry's memoir Spare was a pretty damning account about the pitfalls of growing up as a royal Prince in the media's glare.
'I had a very normal youth as a child, but at the same time, meeting the diaspora I felt the pressures of position,' he said.
'When we finally came back to Albania in 2002, I was really pushed into the deep end.'
Sadly, Susan died in 2004 at age 63 from cancer, just two years after the royal family finally returned to Albania.
His father Leka I died in 2012 and both are buried in the Mausoleum of the Albanian Royal Family.
As Crown Prince, Leka II can be commended for restoring the royal family to prominence in the country through tireless work promoting Albania abroad.
It is plausible that this goodwill could lead to a more official role for the family in the future.
But Leka II says he is making great effort to ensure his daughter Geraldine, 4, does not grow up fretting over the future of the House of Zogu.
'She's fluent both in English and Albanian and she's a chatterbox in all senses,' he said.
'But it's important that she is given the best education and time will define her role, you can't force someone to become a monarch.'
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