The Royal Family is famous around the world for their weird and wonderful habits and hobbies, some of which stretch back across hundreds of years of history.
Whether it's playing polo, driving carriages or grouse hunting, the royals do have some very exclusive and posh pastimes. But did you know that even some of the most privileged of people in the world enjoy some of the same creature comforts as us?
From Prince Charles' love of gardening to The Duchess of Cambridge's passion for cooking, there are many ways in which we are very similar.
And The Queen is no different from her family and has famously had many hobbies over her 96-years, such as filming with cine cameras to catching up with her favourite TV shows.
Her Majesty has also followed in her ancestors' footsteps and has chosen to collect various different items. The strangest of which is … pepper mills.
While it is not known exactly why or when the monarch embarked on her journey of collecting pepper grinders, she is said to find her selection very funny.
One of her favourites was a present from a friend which came from an Italian restaurant in the shape of a plastic waiter.
It is reported that when you crack the head for pepper, it shrieks in an Italian accent, "You’re breaking my neck!" which the Queen is said to find hilarious.
But pepper grinders aren't the only item that the Queen has taken a fancy to collecting. More traditionally, she has become the fifth generation royal to add to the historic family stamp collection.
Nowadays, it is said that the royal collection of stamps is worth over £10 million.
Royal expert Phil Dampier told Fabulous Digital: “The Queen loves showing her stamp collection to visitors, say heads of state who stay at Buckingham Palace.
“It is one of her pride and joys, not only because she owns some of the world’s most valuable stamps, but also because she has built on a family treasure and feels she has done her father and previous monarchs who owned it proud.”
The Queen hasn’t just left the collection as it was when the likes of Prince Alfred and King George VI worked on it, she has added to it.
The rarest and most expensive addition was a Mauritian stamp which is valued at £2 million. It was shown in a travelling exhibition to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002.
The stamp is one of the most prized in the world and was issued by the colonial Post Office of Mauritius in 1847. The Queen also spent £250,000 on a unique set of 10 Penny Blacks which are dated from the first day that they came into circulation, May 6, 1840.
But of all the royal custodians, King George V was the most dedicated to maintaining and growing the collection. When he was still the Duke of York, Prince George was made the honorary Vice President of what would go on to become the Royal Philatelic Society of London in 1893.
He also received a book containing 1,500 stamps on the occasion of his wedding day to Princess Mary of Teck from his fellow society members.
King George V's dedication to his hobby knew no bounds, and he even set the record for the highest price ever paid for a stamp.
In 1904, a courtier asked him if he had seen “that some damned fool had paid as much as £1,450 for a single stamp”. George famously replied, “Yes, I am that damned fool”.
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