THE INCOMES OF KINGS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 278, 17 August 1908, Page 5

THE INCOMES OF KINGS.

SOME HLCE FIGURES. THE KAISER'S POVERTY. Considerable interest was crcated by a recont discussion in tho Prussian Parliament, or Landtag, on the Kaiser's salary. Wilhelm 11, as German. Emperor receives an annual grant of only £130,000 from tho State. His salary as King of 1 Prussia is more in keeping with his needs, the amount being £770,554. Burins tho twenty years of his reign tho German Emperor has received many legacies from wealthy subjects. In this respect he is tho luckiest of all • mpnarchs, for he has benefited to tho extent of nearly a million pounds in hard cash, and, in addition, several fine estates have been left to him. The Kaiser's mode of living is one of unparalleled magnificence. Ho is a connois l seur in the art of choosing apparel and in tho art of wearing it to the best advantage, and his tailor's bill runs into thousands of pounds. His Majesty possesses sufficient castles, palaces, and country houses to enable him to live in a different one each week of the year, if he should feel so disposed. AVhen ho travels, nothing that may lend splendour and imprcssiveness to his progress is overlooked; and here many Germans see an opportunity for their Kaiser .to economise; they would prefer him to omit some-of the . pomp and ceremony which surround him when journeying in his own realm. Kins Edward's IVlGdcst Salary. One of the disadvantages under which the German Emperor labours is that he must provide for his family out of his own income. In England, each member of tho Royal family receives a yearly grant ar £100,000 or over, from the State, while King Edward himself gets £470,000. Of this sum .barely one-fourth goes into his Majesty's own purse, as ho defrays tho sa'aries and oxpenses in connection with tho royal household, and also piovides pensions for' his superannuated servants. • Sir Nigel Kingscoto draws a cheque of £80,000 cach quarter for the two first-mentioned items, and vouchers are supplied for everything as no professional audit is kept. _ The pensions list, the regular grant to charities, and tho other numerous rewards aro looked after by Lord Knollys, '.who notifies • the Paymaster of tho Household as the amounts fall due; and tho payments aro usually sent out with a printed > slip bearing simply the words: "By His Majesty's Command." It would naturally bo impossible for King Edward to live in a manner, befitting his exalted rank oil an income of £120,000 or so. There aro miscellaneous revenues > from invested funds" and other privato sources which help to swell tho privy purse, besides an annual amount of about £63,000 from tho Duchy of Lancaster. An additional Parliamentary grant of £20,000 a year provides for repairs ; to the royal residences. An Incoma of Eighty Millions. Tho Tsar is tho richest monarch in the world. In his caso tho Crown properties actually belong to him. These Imperial domains include more than twenty million acres of cultivated lands and improved forest, as well as. several Siberian mines. A Stato grant of • £1,500,000, added to his other revenues, brings tho Tsar's gross incomo up to £80,000,000 a year. Out of this sum, however, ho has to bear all tho expenses of his lands and mines, as well as of his great estates. No data of -any kind aro availablo regarding tho amount of clear profit which tho Tsar receives, but ho has at/least £5,000,000 a year for his private use.

Each mcmbor of the Spanish Royal Family is well provided for, and certain of King Alfonso's household expenses are also paid by tho Government; so that the annual sum of £357,500 granted to his Majesty is practically all bis own, to do as ho likes with. Compared, however, with tho vast amounts received by tho old Spanish kings in the days when Spain was at the zenith of her greatness, King Alfonso's incomo is small.