the Nguyen emperors were the Great Imperial Seal and the Sword. When Bảo Đại, the last emperor of Vietnam, abdicated in August 1945 at Huế he is recorded to have surrendered the royal insignia to the new communist authorities. What happened to them after this is not known, but presumably they took them away, perhaps to Hanoi. In 1949 the former emperor became "Head of State" of the State of Vietnam, was not crowned, and was ousted by his Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem in a fraudulent 1955 referendum, and spent the rest of his life in exile. In 1968 the city of Huế was the scene of fierce fighting between the communist People's Army of Vietnam and Vietcong and US Marines and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. The imperial palace was bombed, ransacked and almost completely destroyed. It is possible that the imperial insignia, if they had not been removed and taken elsewhere in 1945, were lost or destroyed at this time. Europe Many artifacts have been found, at various locations, which date to European pre-history, and appear to have been associated with ruling or priestly elites. (For one example, see Golden hat.) The oldest European crown jewels of monarchs are the Iron Crown of Lombardy (9th century, now in Monza), the Imperial Regalia (10th century, now in Vienna), the Hungarian crown (10th–11th century, now in Budapest) and the Bohemian crown jewels (1347, now in Prague). Albania The crown of Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg, believed to have been created for the medieval king in the 15th century, was smuggled out of Albania by members of the Kastrioti noble family following the occupation of Albania by the Ottoman Empire. Skanderbeg's helmet is made of white metal, adorned with a strip dressed in gold. On its top lies the head of a horned goat made of bronze, also dressed in gold. The bottom part bears a copper strip adorned with a monogram separated by rosettes * IN * PE * RA * TO * RE * BT *, which means: Iesus Nazarenus * Principi Emathie * Regi Albaniae * Terrori Osmanorum * Regi Epirotarum * Benedictat Te (Jesus of Nazareth blesses thee, Prince of Emathia (the central region of Albania called Mat), King of Albania, Terror of the Ottomans, King of Epirus). Skanderbeg never held any other title but “Lord of Albania” () and strongly pretended the title King of