Overview
While the medieval Angevin Kingdom of Albania was a monarchy, it did not encompass fully the entirety of the modern state of Albania and was ended soon by the Albanian nobles by 1282 when they understood that the Angevin king was not going to keep his promises and thus the Roman Emperor from Constantinople was requested to come. In the Middle Ages during the 14th and 15th centuries, three different Albanian nobles called themselves ruler of Albania, including Andrea II Muzaka (Despot of Albania), Karl Thopia (Prince of Albania), and Skanderbeg (Lord of Albania).
The modern Albania has been a kingdom on two occasions.
The first occasion was after the Albanian Declaration of Independence in 1912, though a ruler was not chosen until 1914, and was forced into exile that year when World War I led to the occupation of Albania. The country remained unstable until establishing the Albanian Republic in 1924. The second occasion started in 1928, when the president of the republic declared himself the new monarch. The continuity of the second modern kingdom is distorted by the onset of World War II, occupation by Italy until 1943, then occupation by Nazi Germany until 1944, then civil war until 1946, which ended with the establishment of the People's Republic of Albania. After Albania became the last European nation to embrace the Fall of Communism in 1992, it became a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic, though there continue to be hereditary pretenders to the title of King of the Albanians.
History
The Albanian Congress of Trieste of 1913 discussed the question of the future prince and several candidates came through: Baron Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás, Marchese D'Auletta (claiming descendance from Skanderbeg) with the support of the Arbereshe delegates and Italy, Prince Albert Ghica from Romania supported by the Albanian colony there, and Aladro Kastriota.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).