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New Zealand Tablet, 18 February 1915, Page 43

An enterprising Belgian journal has made inquiries as to the amount expended annually by Royal ladies on their toilettes, and has found the following facts (says the Kvenimj Standard) : Queen Victoria of Spain easily takes the first place as the best-dressed Royal■ lady. She obtains all her dresses from Paris, and has to pay over to the great firms of the Rue de la Paix a sum of no less than £BOOO a year. The German Empress has all her dresses made in Berlin, at a cost not far below £4OOO. An equal sum is expanded by the Czarina, who dresses in private very simply, and only goes - in for expensive robes on State and festive occasions, which, however, are not frequent in view of the retired life

oi the Russian Imperial Family. The same sum represents the cost of dresses to the wife of M. Poincare. Queen Elena of Italy spends only about £3200 a year, while the dress budget of Queen Elizabeth of Belgium does not exceed £2OOO. Her neighbor, Queen Wilhelmina of Holland, dresses still more modestly, arid spends on her toilette only a few hundred pounds. But the palm of simplicity belongs to Queen Mary of England, who has all her dresses, with the exception of those for State occasions, made at home, under her own supervision, and with her own co-operation, so that her budget is the lowest of all.