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THE NEW LIFE FOR
EXCLUSIVE
INTERVIEW
After the wedding of King Leka
of the Albanians and Australian
girl Susan Cullen-Ward, the
King and his bride will tour
Australia to visit Albanian
communities in this country
By ANNE MATHESON in Madrid
MONARCHS in ex-
ile, crowned kings and
queens still on their
thrones, and represen-
tatives of State from
all over the free world,
will attend the wedding
celebrations of King
Leka I of the Albanians
to Susan Cullen-Ward.
of Cumnock, NSW, in
France at the end of
September.
As well, there will be
more than 1000 of the king's
subjects in exile present,
representing the 76 Albanian
communities scattered
throughout the free world.
Thirty-four-year-old Sue
Cullen-Ward will be twice
married and thrice blessed
for the Albanians, with a
fourth blessing from her own
Church of England padre.
The first of the two
marriages will be a civil one.
The other, in accordance
with the Albanian constitu-
tion, will be performed by
the Advocate General, Selim
Bey, major counsellor to the
King.
Sue will then be known to
the Albanians as Queen
Suzani, the Albanian spelling
of her name.
"I decided not to change
my name on marriage,
though it was suggested," she
said. She hopes to be
sufficiently proficient in
Albanian, a language she is
finding easy to write but
difficult to pronounce, so as
to be able to welcome her
husband's people at the
wedding reception, to be
held three weeks after the
civil marriage at the
medieval castle of the
Marquis de Calderon at
Toledo, Spain.
King Leka and his Queen
will be blessed by the
Moslems (he is a Moslem, as
are 75 percent of his people),
the Orthodox Church of
Albania, the Catholic
Church, and the Church of
England.
The King's mother,
Queen Geraldine, is one of
the ten percent of Albanians
who are Catholic. Sue will
remain a member of the
Church of England.
The fact that she is a
divorcee (she was married
for five years to an
Englishman, Richard Wil-
liams, but they divorced four
years ago) is no bar to her
marriage to a Moslem King.
"The prophet Mo-
hammed married a Christian
and there had been a
divorce," said a spokesman
for the king, "so that is our
precedent."
Sue will wear part of the
national costume of Albania
for the wedding reception,
and the royal family tiara
and jewels, handed down to
her from Queen Geraldine.
The costume, a handsome
long coat heavily embroid
ered in gold thread, will
cover her wedding dress
which Sue's Australian
dressmaker, Mrs Hughes, is
flying to Madrid to make.
She will not wear a
crown.
Among the first to send
their warmest wishes when
the engagement was an-
nounced were the king's
close friends, King Bau-
douin and Queen Fabiola of
Belgium.
Other crowned heads who
showered their congratula-
tions and who will be at the
wedding were the Shah of
Persia and Queen Farah
"He could have married almost any European princess"
Diba, King Hussein of
Jordan and Queen Alia, and
King Bhumibol and Queen
Sirikil of Thailand.
General Franco could not
be present at the celebration
luncheon after the
announcement of the
engagement, but he was
represented by his wife, the
Senora Franco, and his
named successor, Prince
Juan Carlos, and wife,
Princess Sophia.
King Simeon of the
Bulgarians, also living in
exile in Spain, and his Queen
Margarita, ambassadors
from many countries, the
Australian Ambassador to
Madrid, and a cousin of Sue's,
David Brown of Sydney, on
Europe on a study course,
were other guests.
Queen Geraldine gave
the luncheon and, forgetting
formality for a moment,
embraced Susan, kissing her
warmly.
To me the Queen Mother
said in private. "I liked Sue
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Susan Cullen-Ward's engagement ring. The diamond is a rare pure white
marquise-shaped oval with pointed ends supported by six large baguette
diamonds. It took the King six months to find the perfect stone
from the moment I met her.
In the two years she has been
living in Spain we have got
to know each other. I find
she is most sincere,
warm-hearted, and sympa-
thetic to our cause.
"She is a lovely girl. I was
not surprised when His
Majesty fell in love."
Others in the sophisticat-
ed world of exiled royalty
and their aristocratic friends
were, however, surprised,
even shocked and
disappointed.
"He could have married
any one of a number of
European princesses," sighed
the wife of a diplomat.
"We considered His
Majestv one of the most
eligible bachelors in Eu-
rope," said the editor of a
magazine.
"None of us had heard of
Susan Cullen-Ward before,"
she said with a sniff and ran
through a long list of
members of the jet set,
American heiresses, and
daughters of aristocratic
families with whom his name
has been coupled in the
gossip columns.
Leka I is 36, 6ft 7in., a
charmer, and something of a
heroic character.
He is not only a big hunk
of man but he totes two guns,
is a Sandhurst trained
soldier, a jet pilot, an expert
in infiltration and guerilla
warfare.
Among his advisers are
those who have tried to
arrange a marriage between
their king and one or other
of the German princesses
with a fortune and a schloss
to bring to the alliance
Te Baron von Blom-
berg, whose stated business is
arranging royal marriages,
and advising royalty, was at
hand to organise the
announcement of the
engagement. He told me he
had always been active
behind the scenes.
"But I realised trying to
marry off King Leka was a
hopeless task, that when he
married it would be for
love," he confessed.
"And it is quite obvious
that the King is head-over
heels in love with Sue."
That was the first thing
that struck me. The King's
face lights up with a boyish
smile as soon as Sue comes
into the room or speaks to
him.
While Susan Cullen-
Ward in these first days of
training to be a queen rigidly
observes protocol and refers
to him always as "Your
Majesty," the King simply
calls her "darling."'
Their love grew out of
mutual admiration and
warm friendship in the two
years Sue lived in Madrid.
The couple met in Sydney
at a dinner party, and again
briefly in London. She was
on her way to the Sorbonne
in Paris to continue her art
studies. She had trained at
East Sydney technical
college, and was a textile
designer, interior decorator,
and art teacher at her old
school, Presbyterian Ladies
College, Orange, and later at
PLC, Pymble.
"His Majesty did not
invite me to Madrid."
explained Sue "Don Jose
del Valle and his wife, Eliza,
asked me to Spain For a
holiday. I never left."
It is difficult for any
couple to pinpoint the very
moment they fell in love if
that love has been gradual.
But Susan is quite certain
why she fell in love.
"I found myself growing
interested in His Majesty's
cause." she said.
"I admired him
tremendously for all he was
doing to keep the Albanians
together in exile as a people
with their own ties and
traditions and culture
preserved."
King Leka explained that
he is not King of Albania as
he is sometimes described.
That small country, is under a
Communist regime. He is
King of the Albanians.
There are over five
million Albanians living
outside their country, in 35
different nations
There are 80,000 in the
United States and 16,000 in
Australia.
After their wedding, King
Leka is taking Queen Suzani
on a royal progress to show
her to his people.
"The first communities
we will be visiting are tl se
in Australia." he said. " The
oldest established there ire
at Mareeba and Cairns in
Queensland, the more recent
at Shepparton and elsewhere
in Victoria "
King Leka visits his
people at least once every
year.
" They invite me. I pay my
own fare," he explained
"Then for three days I
receive, either shaking hands
or kissing as is the custom. I
try to speak to everyone."
Prince Leka was only
three days old when Queen
Geraldine and her baby

QUEEN
SUZANI

fed the country after the

invasion of Mussolini in 1939.

She and the baby went to
Egypt then London. They

remained there until 1945,
lived in Egypt until 1954,

and in France until 1962.

On the death of his exiled

father, King Zog, in 1961,

Prince Leka succeeded. He
and his mother moved to
Spain.

The King and Susan will
live in Madrid after they are

married.

"His Majesty is very good
at interior designing," said

Susan. "We will build and

furnish our home together. It
will not be a palace. But it
will be large enough to

entertain."

Life for Queen Suzani
will be much more formal in

Spain than ever it was for
Queen Geraldine in Albania.

Royalty in exile keeps up
the facade. And the Spanish,
though they have overthrown

their own monarchy, are the
greatest sticklers for royal
protocol. They have at least
three royal families in exile
living in Madrid.

King Leka is a business
man, with interests in heavy
industry and steel. But
ambassadors to Spain must
always call on him, no matter

how trivial the matter.

He is a king and the
Spanish Government insists
he is treated as one, even if
his throne is a swivel chair in
an office furnished with

pieces from efficiency
exhibitions and royal palaces
of the past.

Selim Bey never relaxes

his watchfulness over the
Albanian constitution and

traditions. As the king's
counsellor he has spared no
effort to see not only that the
marriage is strictly in

accordance with their civil
code -- but that life within

the court circle is lived by the

strictest traditions.

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Engagement pictures of King Leka I and Susan Cullen-Ward (right)
and (below) with the Queen Mother, Queen Geraldine, and the
Baron Faray von Blomberg. The Baron, who "arranges royal mar-

riages," said he had tried before to arrange a marriage for the King,
but had given up, realising that Leka would only marry for love.

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