Prince William left the country on 3 September 1914 originally heading to
Venice. Despite leaving Albania he did so insisting that he remained head of state. He was also styled
Skanderbeg II, in homage to
Skanderbeg, the national hero. He returned to Germany and rejoined the
Imperial German Army under the pseudonym "Count of Kruja" (). The name derived from the city of
Krujë in Albania. When the Austro-Hungarians forced the
Serbian and
Montenegrin armies out of Northern Albania in the early months of 1916, William's hopes of being restored were raised although ultimately they came to nothing. After the war, he still harboured ambitions that he might be restored, but the participants at the
Paris Peace Conference were unlikely to restore the throne to someone who had just fought against them. Although several of the factions competing for power in post-war Albania billed themselves as regencies for William, once central authority was definitively restored in 1924, the country was declared a
republic on 31 January 1925, officially ending his reign. With the monarchy in Albania set to be restored with President
Ahmet Zogu becoming king, Prince William reaffirmed his claim to the throne announcing he still claimed the throne for himself and his heirs. He was buried at the in
Bucharest. ==Marriage and children==