HOBBIES OF CROWNED HEADS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12255, 4 June 1914, Page 1

HOBBIES OF CROWNED HEADS.

London, April ltf. .The award to the King of Italy of a prize from the French. Academic des Inscriptions et Belles Letters 'in connection with his niimismatic work suggests some other hobbies of crowned heads. '' \ ;',' ' "" King George is sah ardent stamp collector, and his sister, the , Queen of Norway, is said to derive much amuseriient from. her. collections of pre,ss clippings giving- inaccurate accounts of her own" doings. King Edward had a. most curious hobby, the collection of the avoirdupois of'his friends, all of whom had.to ■undergo the ordeal of. the Sandringham scales, the host himself keeping the book of records. Queen Victoria's hobby in collections was a . rather melancholy one, taking tlie form of sepulchral memorials of her friend's -.and relations. The Kaiser, of course, lias innumerable hobbies in art, music and letters, and in addition he has. the. finest collection of uniforms in the world. Louis XVl.'s tastes ran in the; direction of clocks, and George IV. made one of the finest collections of snuff boxes ever assembled, in addition to 300 whips and 500 poeketbooks, which- were found at his death. . . .... •. •