Zog I of Albania for such modernization was high, though. Although nominally a constitutional monarch, in practice Zog retained the dictatorial powers he had enjoyed as president. Thus, in effect, Albania remained a military dictatorship. In 1938, Zog opened the borders of Albania to Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in Nazi Germany. Although born as an aristocrat and hereditary Bey, King Zog was somewhat ignored by other monarchs in Europe because he was a self-proclaimed monarch who had no links to any other European royal families. Nonetheless, he did have strong connections with Muslim royal families in the Arab World, particularly Egypt, whose ruling dynasty
Zog I of Albania the court living in locations around Lane End. In 1946, Zog and most of his family left England and went to live in Egypt at the behest of King Farouk. In 1951, Zog bought the Knollwood estate in Muttontown, New York, USA, but the sixty-room estate was never occupied and Zog sold the estate in 1955. Farouk was overthrown in 1952, and the family left for France in 1955. He made his final home in France, where he died at the Hôpital Foch, Suresnes, Hauts-de-Seine on 9 April 1961, aged 65, of an undisclosed condition. Zog was said to have