Daily Kennebec journal., 1913-08-07
ALFONSO BUYS TWO
SUITS A WEEK.
Fine Clothes Help King to Maintain
Grip on the Throne.


orately and expensively attired mon
arch in Europe
1t is doubtful If the youthful mon
half u dozen times in the same suit,
and 1t is certain that there are many
suits in which he has been seen but
once or twice.
When he takes fancy to par
ticular tweed cloth he will often order
"a dozen suits from it straightway and
wear each but two or three times
| If ne tires of the material before he
has worn the whole dozen he will have
the lot put out of the royal wardrobe
1t would be difficult to say how many
suits Of clothes the King of Spain or
! ders in the year
The number greatly varies Some
times King Alfonso will order as many
as a couple Of dozen suits at time,
while at other times he will give his
tailor. or rather one of them, for he
patronizes several an order for but
one or two suits.
The King of Spain keeps from 100
| to $50 suits in the royal wardrobes
and buys on an average of 100 suits
a year.
| His Majestys bill to his tailor alone
averages $1,000 a year, of which sum
London tailors get good share.
There is one London tailor who when
the King of Spain was the guest of
the Duke of Westminster at Eaton
Hall some little while ago. took an
'erder from the Spanish monarch for
40 suits
! The tailor was asked by wire to go
TO the Dukes residence and returned
to London with the largest single or
der he ever received in his pocket.
There is no monarch who is SO pune
itilious about being dressed in the ex-
treme of fashion as His Spanish Ma
iesty. Any suit the cut of which has
become in the least out of date is at
once put out of the royal wardrobes,
though it may only have been worn
by the King once or possibly not worn
lat ALI The King of Spain has not
any particular fancy for any mate
rial Except perhaps a striped flannel
for Summer wear) so far as the pat
tern goes. He appears equally often
/ in light and dark clothes of different
: patterns, but he never wears heavy
material of any sort.
l His Majesty has particular liking
for fancy wastcoats. He buys doZ-
ems of them and pays from SIS to $25
apiece for them. In waistcoats alone
, he spends at least 81 900 a year
| When he came over to the English
court in 1905 to WOO the then Princess
Ena he had in his wardrobes some
waistcoats of rather more remarkable
pattern than was possible ever for
monarch to wear. in England at ali
events. without being thought to vio
late good taste
Clearly a hint had to be given to
| the young monarch on the matter.
and his royal host, the late King Ed
ward. with characteristic tact thought
of the best way of doing this without
offending the royal guest. The Prin-
cess E,na was instructed to say some
thing on the subject to King Alfonso,
and thereafter His Majesty was never
! seen in a fancy waistcoat except of
the most correct pattern according to
English notions.
The King of Spain. like all very
well dressed men, is extremely par
I ticular about having ties that har-
monize correctly with his clothes.
He purchases about 100 in the year,
which cost him from IS to $40 each,
and buys most of them in Paris.
On shirts the Spanish monarch
lspends about the same as he does on
ties.
His polo shirts cost him SIS apiece
and are made of the finest silk. and
he puts dozen of them out of the
royal wardrobes every season.
King Alfonso changes his collar and
shirt three times a day, and rarely
: wears a shirt that has been laundered
more than three or four times.
The Spanish monarch is always su-
perlatively we'll hated, but if season
and occasion permit he wears either
a bowler or cap, and as rarely as pos
sble a silk hat. For his straw hats
and caps King Alfonso pays 81. and
gets through the season usually on a
ldozen; he buys the same number of
derbies in the year and pays $15 apiece
for them.
One way or another King Alfonso
on his ordinary attire spends about
SO. 900 per annum, which is the larg-
est sum spent on dress by any Eu-
ropean monarch with the exception
of the Gar
/ The King of Spains expenditures
'on uniforms. however, is lower than
that of any European monarch. with
the exception. possibly. of the King of
Norway. His Spanish Majesty ap-
pears seldom in uniform-seldom for
monarch-and he never purchases
more than a half dozen uniforms in
the year. He has. as matter of
fact, IN some years net purchased a
single uniform.
| The King of Spains wardrobe rooms
consist of three large apartments de-
voted respectively to his clothes, un-
,derwear and hats and boots.
! The wardrobes are i'm charge of four
Wallets, the chief of whom receives a
salary of but $3.50 per annum, which