Princess Adile

Princess Adile Zogu (1890–1966) was an Albanian princess. She was the eldest sister of Zog I of Albania.

Princess Adile Zogu
Born	9 April 1890 Burgajet Castle, Governorate of Mati, Ottoman Empire
Died	6 February 1966 (aged 75) Paris, France
Burial	Thiais Cemetery
Spouse	Emin Bey Agolli ​ (m. 1909)​
Issue	Prince Salih Prince Hysein Prince Sherafedin Princess Teri Princess Danush
House	Zogu
Father	Xhemal Pasha Zogu
Mother	Sadije Toptani
Religion	Islam

Birth

Like all of Zog I's sisters, there is a degree of confusion regarding Adile's date of birth. Over the duration of the Zogist monarchy, Zog's three youngest sisters, Myzejen, Ruhije and Maxhide (all of them unmarried) became very coy about their ages. As they grew older, their 'official' dates of birth were advanced forwards, and those of Adile and Nafije were similarly adjusted to prevent a suspicious age-gap. The death of their father, Xhemal Pasha Zogu, was advanced forward at around the same time. Adile was eventually said to have been born in 1894, though 1890–91 is a more likely date.[1] Her gravestone bears the date 1890.

Marriage and later life

Adile (Adila) was married in 1909 to Emin Bey Agolli Doshishti (1890–1988). He hailed from a prominent family which owned substantial properties near Lake Ohrid. The marriage had probably been arranged years in advance by her mother. The couple had five children. They separated in c. 1925, though never officially divorced. Adile ran the household where she and her sisters (together with the Queen Mother prior to 1934) lived, as the younger princesses had little knowledge of domestic management. She was absent for long periods during the early days of the Albanian Kingdom after she and her youngest daughter Danush contracted tuberculosis. They spent several years at a sanitarium in Switzerland before eventually recovering and returning to Albania.

After the overthrow of the monarchy in the 1939 Italian invasion of Albania, Adile accompanied Zog to England. After his departure to Egypt, she stayed behind and settled in Henley-on-Thames with her two daughters (who were English-educated) and her sister-in-law, Princess Ruhije Xhelal Zogolli (1881–1956). In the late 1950s, she rejoined her surviving siblings in France. After Zog's death in 1961, she lived in Paris with her eldest son, Salih, until her own death in 1966.[2]

Issue

Name	Birth	Death	Spouse	Children
Prince Salih	1913	1983	Never married	None
Prince Hysein	1914	?	Asma Çerçistopalli	Sermet Doshishti-Agolli Sevin Sadija Doshishti-Agolli
Prince Sherafedin	26 May 1921	June 1965	Helen Jordan	John Steven Doshishti
Princess Teri	10 September 1923	October 2001	Robert Henry Cooper	William Jeremy Daniel Cooper Westrow Gerald Alan Cooper
Princess Danush	29 July 1925	11 October 1999	Robert Martin Roudabush, Jr	Robert M. Roudabush III John E. Roudabush Teri Anne Roudabush Bennett

Honours

• Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Fidelity (Kingdom of Albania).

Ancestry

8. Mahmud Pasha Zogolli, Governor of Mati

4. Xhelal Pasha Zogolli, Governor of Mati

2. Xhemal Pasha Zogu, Governor of Mati

5. Ruhijé Alltuni

1. Princess Adile of Albania

6. Salah Bey Toptani

3. Sadijé Toptani

7. Annijé Toptani

References

1. Tomes, Jason (2003). King Zog: Self-made Monarch of Albania. England: Sutton. p. 141. ISBN 9780750944397.
2. Elsie, Robert (2012). A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian History. London: I.B. Tauris. p. 504. ISBN 9781780764313.