How an Orange art teacher nearly became Australia's first ever queen

Denmark monarch Margrethe II, who laid claim to the throne for 52 years, announced in a New Year's Eve message that she would be the first Danish royal to abdicate the throne in 900 years.

This paved the way her son Frederik and his Australian-born wife Mary to become the king and queen of Denmark.

While this historic moment has given Aussies plenty to celebrate with Mary being crowned Australia's first ever queen, it was a former Presbyterian Ladies College (PLC) student and teacher Susan Cullen-Ward who came close to the distinction in the mid-1970s.

Having grown up on a property at Cumnock, Ms Cullen-Ward was a prefect in her final year at PLC which later combined with the equivalent boys' school Wolaroi, to later be known as Kinross Wolaroi.

With a passion for art she studied at a tertiary level and returned to the school to teach the subject.

According to the Albanian Royal Court website, it was while travelling Europe that she first met His Majesty King Leka I of the Albanians, although some claim it was during a dinner party in Sydney where they first became acquainted.

Regardless, Ms Cullen-Ward was invited by King Leka to Spain to study tourism. In 1974 they were engaged, and one year later they married.

Although she took on the title of Her Majesty Queen Susan of the Albanians, her appointment as a queen was not fully recognised outside of the royal family.

This was because although he was known as King Leka, the Albanian royal was in fact the pretender to the throne.

A pretender to the throne is someone who has, or invents, a claim to the throne which they assert to be superior to that of the incumbent monarch.

The reason for this was that two days after Leka's birth, his father King Zog I was forced into exile after Benito Mussolini's army invaded the country. Shortly after, Zog was replaced on the throne of Albania by Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.

Leka became heir apparent of the abolished throne on April 5, 1957. On the death of King Zog in 1961, Leka was proclaimed King of the Albanians by a convened Albanian National Assembly-in-exile.

In 1993, Leka returned to his country of birth for the first time in 54 years. Four years later during the 1997 rebellion, Leka returned once more.

On June 29 that year, a referendum was held in Albania regarding the possibility of restoring the monarchy.

But before the results were made official, Albanian government officials announced the referendum had been rejected.

In 2011, Albanian President Sali Berisha shared his thoughts on the failed referendum.

"By 2003, the Albanian Parliament passed the law that recognised the attributes of the Royal Family and it was a right decision," he said.

"Also I remind you that even the referendum was held in the context of flames of the communist rebellion and therefore cannot be considered a closed matter.

"The Stalinist principle of: 'you vote, but I count the votes' was applied in that referendum. But, the fact of the matter is the Albanians voted massively for their king, but the referendum failed to meet quotas as it was manipulated."

Although Australian authorities refused to recognise her as a queen, she was eventually issued a passport in the name of "Susan Cullen-Ward, known as Queen Susan".

Following intensive specialised care, she died of lung cancer on July 17, 2004 having never officially been recognised as a queen.

In a eulogy written by a long-time friend of the Albanian royals, Mixael De Cock spoke about the first time he met the Orange woman at the opening of a fundraising art exhibition for the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

"Before our first meeting I had polished up on royal protocol and memorised my formal request, fearing that if I said or did anything wrong that I might jeopardize her acceptance of the invitation," he said.

"At the appointed hour I arrived at the royal compound outside Johannesburg and, on being presented to Her Majesty, did everything the book required one to do in the presence of royalty.

"But, while I was still getting into position to make a slight bow, she took me by the hand and said, 'please, relax - and call me Susan.

"Susan was just another human being with great warmth and a deep compassion for this world and its people. She did not need any fancy words to convince her to assist with a project designed to alleviate the suffering of others."

Queen Susan is buried beside King Leka I and Queen Geraldine at the Royal Mausoleum.

This article first appeared in the Central Western Daily.