THE HOBBIES OF UROWNED HEADS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2461, 27 March 1909, Page 11 (Supplement)

THE HOBBIES OF UROWNED HEADS.

Kings and queens are not devoid of that common human instinct to collect trifles and trophies which is the most frequent - phase of the hobby affliction. Prominent among royal collectors is King Edward, who collects many things, including autographs and first of the English classics. He is olso very fond of his collection of walk-ing-sticks, of which he has several hundreds. Ono of the most treasured of these is a stick made from one of the piles of old London Bridge; and another, equally valuable, was cut from a branch of the famous Boscobel oak which sheltered the future King Charles 11. during his fight after the royalist defeat at Worcester in 1651. The .King of Italy, who is an expert numismatist* has., recently published a scientific work dealing- - with the coins of Italy. One of the most curious of royal collections is that made by the. King of Greece. It consists of door-handles, and he has a whole room full of them of every shape and size. The story goes that, when Queen Alexandra was Princess of Wales, she once remarked to her royal brother, “The Prince of Wales wants you to come and stay at Sandringham. But if you do come,” she added, “please do not run away with any of the handles from the doors as the Prince has the peculiar taste of preferring a door with a handle to one without.”

The Kaiser is fond of collecting ties and scarfs of all ages, patterns, and countries These range from the most costly silk cravats to the humblest cotton bows, and are sufficient in numbers to stock a good sized shop. The Queen Mother of Spain makes a specialty of playing-cards, and she lias some very rare specimens from all parts of the Avorld. The-Tsarina goes in for caricatures cut from various magazines and papers, and her collection also contains a number of original cartoons Avhich were executed by herself. The Queen of Roumania’s favorite hobby is the collecting of rare books. Royal philatelists are, of course, numerous, one of the finest collections in the world being possessed by the Prince of Wales, Avkose enthusiasm for the cr*aze has been caught by his eldest son, Prince Edward. The Princess of Wales gocvS in for quaint and rare fans and riding-Avhips. At the time of the picture post-card boom she filled a number of albums Avith cards of all kinds. Queen Alexandra is a deA r otee of photography, and a recently published book of views taken by herself has been, enormously popular. She keeps at least one copy of every scene she photographs, and her collection of pictures numbers many thousands.

King Alfonso of Spain collects sporting trophies ; but his most curious hobby is °liis collection of the things which have from time to time endangered his life. Thus, he keeps a large stone upon which he onco fell and struck his head, and also the skin of one of the horses which was killed on his wedding-da a j-hat memorable occasion when he and his young bride so narroAvly escaped from the bomb flung by an anarchist.