HRH Princess Geraldine, daughter of HRH Crown Prince Leka II and Princess Elias of Albania was baptised in Tirana on 28 January 2023 in the Chapel of Our Lady of the Annunciation, Palatine Chapel of the Palace of the Brigades. The sacrament was celebrated by His Most Reverend Excellency. Mgr. Arjan Dodaj, Metropolitan Archbishop of Tiranë-Durrës, in the name of H.H. Pope Francis.

Princess Geraldine, Custodian of the Crown, had as her godmother H.R.H. Princess Sibyl of Luxembourg and as her godfather Tomi Frasheri, a member of one of Albania’s most illustrious and aristocratic families.

The Palatine Chapel of Our Lady of the Annunciation, built at the request of the late Queen Geraldine and later abandoned during atheistic communism, was completely restored thanks to the intervention of the Albanian Government’s State Stewardship Directorate with the financing of the Order of Malta’s Embassy in Tirana.

The intimate ceremony was attended by Ambassador Palumbo and the United States Ambassador, Yuri Kim, as well as family and friends of the royal family.

At the end of the ceremony, Princess Geraldine received the Grand Cordon of the dynastic orders of Besa and Skanderbeg.