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| Xhelal Pasha Bushati |
In the history of Albania, there are rare cases when a person refuses a high state duty, especially when it comes to the royal throne. This has only happened to one person. He was Xhelal Pasha Bushati, the son of Riza bey and the grandson of Mustafa Pasha Bushati. Xhelal Pasha's family after the fall of the well-known Bushatllinj dynasty had settled in Istanbul. He was born and educated in the capital of the empire where he had social and official ties with the top leaders of the state. These circumstances and his figure caused the Ottoman to make him the son-in-law of the empire by marrying one of the Princesses.
Jalal Pasha married the sister of Abdyl Hamid II, Naime, a marriage from which they had no children. Xhelal Pasha was the only personality who enjoyed the respect of all Albanian figures. This led Ismail Qemali and later Ahmet Zogu, before becoming President and then King, to propose to him the throne of Albania. But he modestly refused. However, Xhelal Pasha never hesitated to give his contribution to Shkodra and Albania whenever asked.
When Mustafa Kemal came to power, like all members of the Ottoman dynasty, he was forced to leave Turkey. In fact, he was offered some high state duties, provided he divorced Princess Naime. But he refused. Together with his family, he settled in Nice, France.
During this period, in the 30s, he came twice to the city of Shkodra. Some of his relatives stated that the palace he had had in the ‘Fatih’ neighborhood of Istanbul had been burnt down along with many folk costumes and items of historical value from the Bushatlin dynasty. Except for a sword he had deposited in the Istanbul Bank. Whether these valuables were burned accidentally or intentionally remains an enigma! He died in 1938, thus extinguishing a direct line FROM the dynasty of viziers of Shkodra.