Zog I of Albania

King Zog's reign brought progress and modernity to a backward Albania before his flight in 1939 - but controversies over the gold he allegedly took with him persist.

Two organisations, Europa Nostra and the European Investment Bank Institute, on Monday released a technical report urging Albania to save an endangered bridge built in 1927 under Albania's first and last king. Zog.

Leka Zogu was the only son of the late Zog I, the only monarch to reign in Albania. The Albanian monarchy had an unusually short history. The founder of the royal house, Zog, was a wealthy landowner and politician who, after Albania's independence in 1913, first became prime minister and then president before proclaiming himself king in 1928.

On April 27, 1938, Albania hosted its first royal wedding, when King Zog married Hungarian aristocrat Geraldine Apponyi de Nagy-Appony.