THE QUEEN'S WEALTH.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1698, 30 May 1884, Page 2

THE QUEEN'S WEALTH.

The private fortune of the Queen is estimated at thirty million sterling, Her Majesty being considered the richest woman living. She is said to bo bb penurious as rich. Her public charities are rare, .and seldom large. No living monarch can boast of such a service of plate aa that owned by the 9.;®™' guests it,is often exhioited. onhuge biiffflets at either end o he banqueting table in St George's d 11 0368 ' plateaux .' CU P S > ftncl candelabra, all wrought in the precious metal, the nett value of which is said to exceed two millions sterling. Conspicuous!, among the trophies' are the mtmio "lyre bird" and the tiger's head takenfrom Tippo Sahib 80 odd years ago; and presented to Ber.Majesty's grandfather, King George 111 The lyre bird's body and tail are composed of solid gold; richly studded with brilliants, rubies, emeralds, and pearls. As he stands in all his jewelled pride, one of the costliest follies ever devised, to gratify the whim of a lavish Oriental potentate, he represents a perpetual incomo of £ISOO a year, calculated at five per cent upon his intrinsic worth.;, The tiger's 1 head once served Hyder Ali's son as a footstool. It is a life-size model fashioned in solid silver, richly gilt, its tusks of rock crystal, and its tongue of pure gold. Like the lyre bird, it fell into the hands of the British at the storming of Seringapatam.