Almost All the European Monarchs Indulge
in Cigars, Pipes, or Cigarettes,
Except King Oscar of Sweden.
King James I of England, that "wisest fool in Christendom," was a monarch
who inveighed against the "Virginia weed" in vain. His "Counter-blast
Against Tobacco" was a famous book in its day. Yet to-day there is
scarcely a king in Europe who does not smoke. The Paris _Figaro_ has
collected statistics as to smoking by royalty, and the _Literary Digest_
translates the item:
The King of England almost always has a cigar in his mouth,
but when with his intimate friends he puffs a short
brier-root pipe. The Emperor of Germany is forbidden by his
physicians to touch tobacco, but sometimes he lights a
cigarette and throws it away when half smoked. King Carlos
smokes superb cigars, golden-brown and fragrant, and of
Portuguese make.
Alphonso XIII prefers cigarettes to cigars, and Nicholas II
consumes daily about thirty cigarettes of the Russian
variety. Emperor Francis Joseph, in spite of his advanced
age, smokes a pipe from morning to night, and King Leopold
smokes about twelve cigars a day.
Victor Emanuel III smokes very little, and is satisfied with
a few cigarettes daily, but King Oscar of Sweden does not
use tobacco at all.