Quote:
Originally Posted by Ashtagon
Also, I'd be surprised if her education didn't include classical Graeco-Roman history and some kind of objets dart appreciation.
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Apparently her education was extremely deficient, almost completely limited to a few languages, the constitutional history of the UK, and British constitutional theory (on which by 1953 she was highly expert). But on becoming queen she apparently found herself unable to carry on small talk on any subject except for dogs and horses. (She engaged a tutor and fixed the problem after her accession.) Also, in the late fifties or early sixties someone snarked that she had the world's best collection of Da Vincis, but no understanding of what they were.
As for wealth, don't forget that the Duke of Windsor had walked of with most of the Royal family's private fortune, and had emptied the accounts of the Duchy of Cornwall and the Duchy of Lancaster before he abdicated. He even made George VI liquidate his inheritance to buy Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle. It took the royal family a while to repair their fortunes.