5 monarchs who became famous all over the world for their strange hobbies

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Needless to say, history is replete with an abundance of royal names, famous throughout the world for their deeds. You can endlessly go through the events of past times in your head for a long time, trying to remember which of them and for what won a victory or received an award. But it is much better to distract from this occupation and look at the rulers from the other side, delving into their interests and hobbies that are not related to state affairs.

1. Henry VII

Henry VII is a king who today is known for being devoid of a sense of humor and sternness. A highly astute politician, developing trade and industrial relations and cutting costs, he managed to restructure the British government, making it incredibly wealthy. And it is not surprising that he was the beloved British monarch of former Chancellor George Osborne. Despite the fact that Henry was very gloomy, serious and taciturn, he was a very intelligent, educated and shrewd person who spent a lot of time working with his papers in order to ensure the prosperity of the kingdom captured on the edge of the sword. Knowing several languages, he was able to read, write and express his thoughts well.

But his main advantage was that he valued justice above all else, unlike his son Henry VIII, who eventually became his successor. However, they shared a passion called tennis. During his reign, the monarch built six tennis courts throughout the country, one of which is located in Westminster Abbey. Due to such a violent passion for tennis on the part of the king, this sport became widely loved and spread among the royal nobility, and also became an unshakable tradition that continued under his successors. Being a passionate fan of this game, Heinrich took part in matches more than once, and when he lost the opportunity to play, he simply began to place bets on the players. As a result, in the period between 1493-99, he lost about twenty pounds, which at that time was very large money for the average person.

2. George III

George III, the king who managed to lose the American colonies, was nicknamed "Mad King George". Unfortunately, in the last years of his life, the great monarch began to suffer from mental disorders, but before that he was a very successful British ruler. Interested in the day-to-day running of the kingdom, he amassed a huge collection of scientific instruments that are still on display in some museums today. In addition, he was fond of astronomy and was the main sponsor who financed the construction of one of the largest telescopes in the world at that time. And despite the conflicting opinions and conventional wisdom, George was far from being a tyrant, as they said about him. Even the American Revolution was for him an attempt to defend the right of an elected parliament to levy taxes from its subjects, rather than an opportunity to expand his own powers.

It is difficult to say whether he was right in his thoughts and reasoning, but his main goal was to preserve parliament, and not his rule, at any cost. It is also worth noting that in addition to the nickname "Mad King", he was assigned another one - "Farmer Georg", for only one simple reason - the monarch was very much interested in agriculture, which is why he was ridiculed for many years. Corresponding with farmers across the country, he wrote scientific articles and commented on books on the subject. And despite the fact that this hobby on the part of Georg seemed strange to many, it was agriculture that was the key industry in the country, which grew significantly thanks to such close attention and intervention of "Mad Farmer Georg".

3. George V

Today, the British royal family has very normal hobbies. Prince William loves to play bingo, and Queen Elizabeth II prefers reading detective novels, and she also enjoys caring for her dogs and horses. Her grandfather, George V, was an avid stamp collector who collected them throughout his life. His collection includes three hundred twenty-eight albums, each of which has sixty pages, which is no less than twenty thousand pages of stamps. As a result, he received the nickname "King of Philately", and in 1893 he was elected vice-president of the Royal Philatelic Society of London. In 1905, he shelled out £ 1,450 (roughly two hundred and twenty thousand US dollars today) for the stamp, breaking a previously set record. Later, one of his courtiers asked George if he had heard by chance that some reckless fool had given a fortune for the stamp. To which the prince replied that he was that very fool.

4. Farouk

But the last king of Egypt, King Farouk, was an extremely selfish man. He not only threw a feast for the whole world and dabbled in gambling, but also drove his cars around the city, testing the patience of the police, who had no right to stop him. In addition, during the Blitz, the lights in his house were constantly on, unlike the rest of the city, where pitch darkness reigned. This man, being a ruler, did not give a damn about the people, and only cared about himself. The years of his reign are known for corruption, around which scandals were constantly growing. The palace of King Farouk was bursting with untold riches, while the common people became impoverished and starved until the Egyptian army intervened and expelled the ruler in 1952. After that, a long period of clearing his palace and estates began. Perhaps Farouk was one of the wealthiest kings in history.

His collection consisted of hundreds of silk shirts, a Cadillac park, fifty golden walking sticks strewn with diamonds, a myriad of French Baroque furniture, eight and a half thousand gold collectible coins and much more. But most of all, the people were struck by the collection of "pictures for adults" found at "Louis Farouk", which was considered one of the largest in the world. And despite the fact that the former ruler did not deny the presence of all the previously "acquired" good, he was extremely outraged and surprised that far from unflattering accusations from an angry public fell in his address, sparing no effort to insult.

5. Edward VIII

The reign of King Edward VIII lasted less than a year. It is also worth noting the fact that he was one of the few British monarchs who were never officially crowned. Leading a riotous lifestyle, this man caused fear and distrust in the parliament, which feared that their king would simply ditch the monarchy once and for all. But apparently, Edward did not give a damn about what was happening, however, as well as the traditions of his country. He also sympathized with Hitler and the Nazis, considering Adolf a far from bad person. In addition, Edward was the only member of the royal family who had his own pilot's license.

And needless to say that he was an avid pilot, recklessly plowing the heavens. But as you know, sooner or later everything comes to an end. George V simply put the negligent son in front of the fact, forbidding him to fly, but he only ignored his request, seriously thinking about how to quickly leave the country before the abdication of the throne in order to marry the divorced Wallis Simpson, with whom the British government is to marry did not give his consent. His plan went so far that he even managed to book a hotel on the continent. But it was not so, because on the morning before departure, thanks to British government intelligence, the flight was disrupted and Edward was forced to abdicate before he could leave the country.