Prince Wilhelm I of Albania

Prince Wilhelm of Wied (German: Wilhelm Friedrich Heinrich Prinz zu Wied, 26 March 1876 – 18 April 1945), reigned briefly as sovereign of the Principality of Albania as Vilhelm I from 7 March to 3 September 1914, when he left for exile. Outside the country and in diplomatic correspondence, he was styled Sovereign Prince, but in Albania, he was referred to as mbret, or king.

The European Great Powers selected William, a member of the German princely house of Wied, to rule over the newly independent Albania. The offer of the Albanian throne was first made to him in the spring of 1913 but he turned it down. On 7 February 1914, William let the Great Powers know that he would accept the throne, thereby becoming By the grace of the powers and the will of the people the Prince (Mbret) of Albania. One month later, he arrived in Durrës.

His brief reign proved turbulent. Immediately following his arrival revolts of Muslims broke out in central Albania against foreign domination that was not Turkish. Greece encouraged the formation of a separatist provisional government in North Epirus. William's position was also undermined by Essad Pasha, who accepted money from Italy to finance a revolt and to stage a coup against William. The plot was exposed, Pasha was arrested on 19 May 1914.

The outbreak of World War I presented more problems for Prince William as Austria-Hungary demanded that he send Albanian soldiers. When he refused, citing the neutrality of Albania, the remuneration that he had been receiving was cut off. Prince William left the country on 3 September 1914.