INCOMES AND EXPENDITURE OF FOUR EUROPEAN MONARCHS

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 234, 30 September 1908, Page 6

INCOMES AND EXPENDITURE OF FOUR EUROPEAN MONARCHS

THE OFFICIAL ALLOWANCE AND THE PRIVATE FORTUNES OF THE LEADING MONARCHS OF EUROPE, AND THE EXPENSES THET HAVE TO MEET—THE CZAR IS THE WEALTHIEST, AND THE ONLY ONE WHO RETAINS PERSONAL OWNERSHIP OF THE ANCIENT ESTATES OF THE CROWN. Interesting extra4sV from an article by Walter Littlefield in"Munsey's Magazine

The spread of education and the development of democratic ideas have not merely curtailed royal prerogatives and royal stipends; they have forced the former within moral and family limitations, and have so diminished the latter that, in several cases, they are hardly an adequate return for actual work performed and risks incurred. For example, how would the average American of anti-plutocratic ideas reckon in dollars and cents the value of Edward Vll.'s achievements in bringing the South African War to a close, and in uniting''England and France by an en- ■- tente cordiale, the consummation lof which has recently been so vociferously acclaimed by the people of both countries? It is a far cry, to-day, from the feudal times when the monarch owned the territory of his realm and pocketed all the revenues thereof. Had what is known as crown lands—the royal real estate— been administered like private property, parliaments would not now be called upon to support royal families, for these same families would be the richest in the world. There would be no civil lists, but royal plutocrats *vould rule supreme where now monarchs reign. England was first to perceive the grow, ing power of royal wealth, and to force the surrender of the monarch's capital by guaranteeing him an allowance. Russia has perceived it, but has as yet co power to negotiate a similar bargain with her sovereign. Consequently, Nicholas IT. is the wealthiest monarch alive, if not the wealthiest that ever lived. His annual income goes far into the hundreds of millions, while his expenses, of course, are also colossal. KING EDWARD'S CIVIL LIST. With the succession of every new British monarch, the formality of surrendering to the people the revenue of ; Crown lands and certain traditional \ Crown taxes is gone through before the civil list is granted. On July 2, 1901, , King Edward VII. made the usual surrender. His civil list was then fixed at four hundred and seventy thousand pounds, of which one hundred and ten j thousand is appropriated £o the privy I purse of the King and Queen, one hun-

I j about four hundred million dollars. This j enormous personal income represents | the revenue of landed property covering I more than a million square miles, of buildings in various cities, and of gold ; and other mines in the Urals and in Siberia. Details as to the disposition of this vast sum are as hard to gather as those concerning its source. One thing is certain. The present Czar, who is noted for his love of home life and its simple

THE KAISER'S SMALL ALLOWANCE. As German Emperor, William 11. not only has no civil list, but practically no state revenue, with the exception of the twenty-six hundred thousand marks — about six hundred and fifty thousand dollars—voted every year by the Reichstag for the support of the office of the " Deutgcher Kaiser"; and of that sum the Emperor can lay his hands on only about one hundred thousand marks. For- - tunately, he has other resources. As King of Prussia he receives an annual salary of nearly sixteen million marks. . Nominally, he is owner of the Prussian Crown lands, but his revenue from them is fixed by jaw, the balance being paid into the state treasury. There ar c further items of royal revenue, but these are applied, for the most part, to the support of the minor princes of his house. The present emperor's grandfather, William 1., was a very saving man, and . did much to improve and develope the private property that he inherited, consisting of castles, forests, and farming land in various parts of Germany. These estates to-day produce a very handsome income. But all this does not obliterate the fact that the sum provided by the German Empire, as such, for the support of its sovereign, is absolutely inadequate to his imperial prestige and activity. Moreover, since the empire was established thirty-four years ago, the expenses of the court have been enormously increased; but until the Reichstag is moved to view the situation in a proper commercial light, William 11. will probably remain what is proverbially known as " hard up." With the exception of yachting, the German Kaiser has no expensive pasj times, and he is said to have a keen eye ; ( for a good investment. His financial ; operations, however, are not always for--1 tunate. It is understood that some years i! ago certain banking-houses in Hamburg . | purchased on his account a large quan- ■ tity of " Venezuelans." The subsequent of German warships in the . waters of the little South American republic may not hav e been entirely uneon- . nected with the imperial interests there. i J The expenses of the Kaiser's household 1 are most carefully calculated and ad-

I tion of Russia takes brief account ot charity and education. Hospitals and j asylums, schools and colleges—which now j appear like so many crystal drops in the j dark, heaving sea of revolutionary Russia—havea—have been established with lavish j hand by Nicholas 11. j As at home, so it is abroad, the Czar is responsible for his expenditure solely to his personal gxehequcr. On his travels, he has always shown a disposition to make a display commensurate with his

pleasures, and for economy in household expenses, does not personally spend any thing like four hundred million dollars a year. It should be remembered, however, that in Russia many of the Imperial expenses which elsewhere are assumed by constitutional governments must be met by the private purse of the autocrat. The various palaces with their personnel, including even whole regiments of guards, ' are supported by the Emperor alone. Th e • journeys that he makes are entirely at ' his own cost. The politico-economic posi-j

dred and twenty-five thousand for sal- i aries and pensions of the Royal house- i hold, one hundred and ninety-three thou- I sand for household expenses, twenty ; thousand for repairs to royal abodes, i thirteen thousand for charity, rewards, < and so forth. By this same Civil List i Act, the Prince of Wales receives twenty 1 thousand pounds annually, and the ' Princess of Wales ten thousand during < the present reign. From what is known ' as the Consolidated Fund, sums ranging j from twenty-five thousand pounds a year 1 for the Duke of Connaught, to three thousand for the Grand Duchess of Mcck-lenburg-Strelitz, are allowed to other members of the Royal family. The Prince of Wales has also a lien on the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, and the King on those of the Duchy of Lancaster, but the latter are paid into the Consolidated Fund. * In all, it costs the people of Great Britain about nine hundred thousand pounds annually to support their Royalties. That is a large sum, but it sinks into insignificance when we compare it to the estimate of the present revenue of the property and property rights— ' some of which are identified with the most valuable real estate in London— once owned by British monarchs. Britons may provide f»r many more princelings, and still have made an exceptionally fine bargain. Queen Victoria's civil list amounted to three hundred and eighty-five thousand pounds. After the death of the Prince Consort, when she lived very quietly, her late majesty managed to put aside a large yearly sum, though she several times had to draw upon her savings in order to re-establish the credit of the then Prince of Wales. Since his accession, the present king has kept strictly within the limits of the civil list. He has still his yachts, his stables, and his game preserves, but he dispenses less money upon the pleasures of life than he spent before coming to the throne. THE VAST WEALTH OF THE CZAR. Little detailed information concerning the financial standing of the Czar of All the Russias may be obtained by an examination of the " Journal of Financial Statistics," which is every year issued by the Muscovite Government. The reason is that the national and the imperial revenues' and expenses may he made to overlap according to the will of the monarch or the exigencies of state to which he is pleased to bow. Nevertheless, the fact is discernible that, for th e fiscal year of 1904, Nicholas 11. received in round figures eight hundred million roublesj or

wealth. At the close of the last visit he paid to Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle he is said to have left twenty thousand pounds—twice the annual salary of the president of the United States —to be distributed among the retainers attached to that palace. Let us now turn to a monarch who plays a leading part upon the stage of international politics, but whose financial standing, if judged by the excess of expenditure over revenue, marks him as the poorest in Europe.

justed. The empress has her stipulated annuity of one hundred thousand marks, which may not be overdrawn. Each of the princes and the princess has a definite allowance, and the amount to be spent for Christmas presents is made out with careful view to the character and station of the ricipients. THE FRUGAL KING OF ITALY. Like Edward VU., the King of Italy receives an allowance from his government which is utterly disproportionate to the revenues, now enjoyed by the State, of the lands and palaces once owned by his house. These crown possessions have in the last 40 years been greatly enhanced by the incorporation of the properties that belonged to the minor rulers of former independent fragments of the now United Kingdom. The civil list of Victor Emmanuel 111. Ie an annual stipend of fifteen million lire, or about three million dollars. From this amount must be subtracted four hundred thousand lire to the children of the late Duke of Aosta; a similar amount to the Duke of Genoa; and a million lire to the King's mother, Queen Margherita. His Majesty is left with about two and a-balf millions of. dollars, with which he is expected to keep up the dignity of tne court of the Quirinal, arid to maintain half a dozen royal palaces and villas which the State munificently lends him. It was a good thing for the finances of the Quirinal when Victor Emmanuel 111., then Prince of Naples, married tne daughter of the impecunious but hard-working and frugal Prince of Montenegro. The late King Humbert, like his father before him, had neither time nor inclination to study domestic economy. He borrowed right and left, and was always in debt. Like Leopold 11., he enjoyed expensive amusements, and he might have rivalled the Belgian monarch as a pleasure-seeker had his credit been as limitless. On the other hand, Princess Helena of Montenegro had behind her, in the court of Nicholas her father, many generations of princes who pushed bourgeois frugality to the highest point. When she weddeu, nine years ago, she brought into her husband's household the ideas of thrift and saving which had been implanted in her during her youth; and he has eagerly emulated her. Italians have a way of sneering at the economy practised by their monarch and his spouse, and at the simplicity and innocence of his pleasures, which form a striking contrast to those cf his Piedmoutese ancestors. 1 * 1