In January 1913 he elected influential people to defend the Albanian cause at the Conference of Ambassadors in London. He even left the Balkan Committee of which he was a member, stressing that he could not side with the massacres of other countries.
Herbert worked to the death for the Albanian cause and for its acceptance in the political and diplomatic scene. Albania and Albanians have never had a greater friend than Abrey Herbert.
But who is Aubrey Herbert?
Honorable Colonel Aubrey Nigel Henry Molyneux Herbert was born on April 3, 1880, in Nottinghamshire. He had English aristocratic background, but the background did not prevent him from becoming an active man in the political life of our country and in the world.
He was a soldier, diplomat, and intelligence officer who had close ties to Albania's independence. Herbert was himself an Orientalist and spoke French, Italian, German, Turkish, Arabic, Greek and Albanian as well as English. Herbert was well known, especially in the Middle East, but he traveled to Yemen, Turkey and Albania. He often dressed like a wanderer on his travels.
From 1911 until his death, he served as a Conservative Member of Parliament. In 1904 Herbert began working as an honorary attaché in Istanbul and from that moment until his death (1923) he devoted his activity to promoting Albanian nationalism. Herbert became a passionate promoter of Albanian independence, after visiting the country for the first time in 1907. During his stay in Tirana, he became a friend of Esad Pasha. When the Albanian delegates went to the London Conference 1912-1913 they had Herbert's help as an advisor.
One of the persons with whom Aubrey Herbert maintained constant contact was the Albanologist Edith Durham. Herbert had set up a pro-Albanian society in 1912, with parliamentarians, scholars, and journalists, to contribute to Albania's independence.
Herbert passed away at the age of 43 in 1923 and his mission in Albania was continued by Countess Carnarvon. In memory of her son, she organized the Albanian-British Committee to help refugees from Kosovo who took refuge in the village near Kavaja named Herbert, today Qerret, as well as several villages in Myzeqe, which are still inhabited by Kosovars and Serbs. -Bosnian. He built schools and hospitals.
He was even offered the throne of Albania twice but the political conjuncture made him refuse. In the first case in 1914, shortly before the outbreak of World War I, Prime Minister H.H. Asquith, a family friend, stopped him. The offer remained unofficial and was rejected by the Foreign Ministry. The throne was taken by William of Wied.
The second case was after the defeat of the Italian army by the Albanians in September 1920. The offer was again unofficial, although it was made on behalf of the Albanian government. Herbert discussed the offer with Philip Kerr and Maurice Hankey. Eric Drummond, Herbert's friend, had become the first secretary-general and influenced Albania's accession to the League of Nations in December 1920. With the change of foreign ministers in the Albanian government, Herbert's chances of being at the helm of the country faded.
In April 1921, the throne, although unofficially, was offered to the Duke of Athol, Jim Barnes, one of Albania's British friends living in Italy. In November 1915, Herbert was in Paris and Rome on a secret mission related to Albania. Impatient with the indecision of the Foreign Ministry for Albania, in early 1916, Herbert began to look for new opportunities. Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss offered him a job as chief of intelligence.
Then in October 1916, Herbert was appointed liaison officer of the Italian army, the first line of which extended to Albania. He was apparently unaware of the clause separating Albania from Italy in the secret Treaty of London on April 26, 1915. When the Bolsheviks published his secret provisions in 1917, he rejected the idea of Albania as a small Muslim state. In December, he returned to England.
Due to health problems mainly with his eyesight, in the last days of his life he became completely blind. After consulting a doctor, who persuaded him to remove all his teeth in order to restore his sight, his condition worsened even more.
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On the decoratively carved wooden panels are placed six heraldic shields depicting his descent and marriage.