ROYALTIES & HOBBIES

Waikato Times, Volume 117, Issue 19564, 1 May 1935, Page 5

ROYALTIES & HOBBIES

KING’S FAMOUS STAMPS. > QUEEN NIARY’B ANTIQUEB. | Recently in U Tyr'd the Pnnce of Wales was learning to ski the late - of his many hobbles. And, as usual, toe Prince astonished his teach™ M his proficiency. 'He is one of the m adaptable of men. But it is not often that the Prince has a whole of free time. What does he do in his leisure moments in between the round of official engagements / His Royal Highness has played with a dozen hobbies- To-day gardening takes up nearly all his spare time. He is an enthusiast, thinks nothing of getting up at six in the morning to do an hour’s digging and in the past two years has gone into every side of ea At en dkme?' at Fort Belvedore the Prince has served his guests with potatoes and Brussels .sprouts he has hplned to stow himself, and on the table there have been tulips cut from bulbs he planted. When he is not •busy in the grounds or the potting sheds the Prince reads gardening books —sometimes abstruse volume on the rearing of orchids and som - times simple books, because, as wit all bis hobbies, he wants to know all about the subject. ■ , The Prince takes ail his hobbies seriously. Golf, squash racquets, hunting, flying, lancing, playing ie trap drums and bagpipes—to each of them in turn His Royal Highness has devoted a lot of time and energy. But he demands from his hobby an outlet for his tremendous nervous energy, and once he lias become good at a game he wants to get on with something now. / One hobby to which the Prince, and most of us, remajns -faithful is reading. He enjoys a “thriller” as much’ as anyone, and next, to 'that likes 'to laugli over books of the “Jeeves” type. A good deal of his reading is done on railway and air-liner journeys. King’s Stamp Collection. Neither the King nor the Queen shares the Prince’s taste in books. The King rarely reads fiction—’probably because he has to spend so much of his 'time reading official papers ana the Queen, when she reads a novel, prefers historical romances and comedies of manners. In contrast with the Prince, both the King and the Queen prefer indoor occupations lor their leisure. „ ■ , „ His Majesty’s happiest off-duty hours are those he spends among his stamps—the world-famous and priceless collection that is housed in two big rooms at Buckingham Palace. Here the King spends afternoons every week when the Court is in town, arranging and cataloguing additions, examining old specimens and oiten contributing to the solution of "jonio philatelic problem that has baffled oilier experts. liis Majesty’s main hobby, however, is his work. No day for him passes entirely free from official tasks, and his free hours are very few. Shooting with friends on his Sandringham j estate, inspecting the work of liis , farm at Windsor,-.- ’and sailing.; his j racing cutter Britannia are ills chief relaxations. In the evening the King J enjoys listening to the wireless, and he has a 'special set which will tune in to any of the British and foreign •tation-s. Everyone knows the Queen’s hobby —collecting antiques. Wherever she goes Her Majesty visits antique dealers and seeks something new for her collections. She -spends many hours at- the Palace with an expert on china, furniture and old glass who is on her personal staff, examining and matching her treasures. Recently the Queen began to catalogue her collection. The lask is not yet completed, though s>.x great volumes have already been filled. Her .hajesly iiiLenus to Have every object of art in Her personal collection photographed for the catalogue. Duke and Duches3 of York. Needlework and knitting, modern art as well as art of the past, music, especially choral singing, the theatre, and gardening, are among her many interests; and those who know the Queen well wonder how she finds time for them all. - As the "family man” of the Royal Family, the puke of York’s main hobby is his children. He used to be a wireless enthusiast in the days when building a two-valve set was something of a minor miracle, but now lie prefers to spend his lime quietly playing with Princess 'Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, and occasionally doing a little gardening.

He likes to walk about unrecognised among the shopping crowds in the West End of London studying humanity Once he went with the Duchess to the city, dismissed his car and spent half an hour walking unattended through the lunchtime throng. None of the men and girls bustling in and out of their offices recognised the Royal couple. Music and needlework, especially petite point—this last a taste she shares with Lord Harewood and the Princess Royal—are the chief sparetime pursuits of the Duchess of York. Riding, hunting and swimming are the favourite pastimes of the Duke of Gloucester. Like the Prince of Wales, he loves the open air.