Royals with surprising side pursuits
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Royals with Surprising Side Pursuits — Daily trivia Sunday, October 11, 2026: questions and answers
All 10 questions with answers and explanations. Play this daily
Q 01Which British king competed in the men's doubles at Wimbledon?
- AEdward VIII
- BGeorge VI
- CGeorge V
- DEdward VII
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George VI
As Duke of York, the future George VI partnered Louis Greig in the 1926 men's doubles and lost in the first round, making him the only royal ever to play at Wimbledon.
Q 02Which British monarch trained as a mechanic and truck driver?
- AQueen Victoria
- BQueen Mary I
- CQueen Anne
- DQueen Elizabeth II
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Queen Elizabeth II
Commissioned into the Auxiliary Territorial Service in February 1945 with service number 230873, Princess Elizabeth trained as a driver and mechanic and was made an honorary junior commander five months later.
Q 03Which future king appeared as an extra in Star Trek: Voyager?
- AAbdullah II of Jordan
- BFelipe VI of Spain
- CPhilippe of Belgium
- DFrederik X of Denmark
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Abdullah II of Jordan
Abdullah II of Jordan, a devoted Trekkie, played a silent science officer in the 1996 Voyager episode 'Investigations' while still a prince, three years before taking the throne.
Q 04Who was the first British royal to compete at the Olympics?
- APrince Edward
- BZara Tindall
- CPrincess Anne
- DPrince Andrew
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Princess Anne
Princess Anne rode the Queen's horse Goodwill in eventing at Montreal 1976, was concussed in a cross-country fall and finished the course with no memory of the remaining jumps.
Q 05Which Russian tsar travelled incognito to learn shipbuilding in Dutch shipyards?
- APeter the Great
- BIvan the Terrible
- CNicholas II
- DAlexander II
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Peter the Great
Peter the Great. He went as 'Peter Mikhailov', and the skills he picked up helped him build up Russia's navy.
Q 06Which English king is credited with composing 'Pastime with Good Company'?
- AKing Richard III
- BKing John
- CKing Henry VIII
- DKing Edward VI
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King Henry VIII
King Henry VIII's 'Pastime with Good Company' survives in a British Library manuscript with around 30 other pieces credited to him; the myth that he wrote 'Greensleeves' is just that.
Q 07Which French king's hobby was locksmithing?
- ALouis XIV
- BLouis XVI
- CLouis XIII
- DLouis XV
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Louis XVI
Louis XVI kept a forge and lock workshop at Versailles; his locksmith tutor François Gamain later betrayed the hidden iron safe at the Tuileries whose papers helped send him to the guillotine.
Q 08Which second job did King Willem-Alexander quietly hold for 21 years?
- AAirline pilot
- BAmbulance driver
- CShip captain
- DTrain conductor
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Airline pilot
Airline pilot was his side job: the Dutch king revealed in 2017 he had co-piloted KLM Cityhopper flights twice a month for two decades, rarely recognised in uniform.
Q 09Which queen illustrated a 1977 edition of The Lord of the Rings?
- AQueen Silvia of Sweden
- BQueen Sonja of Norway
- CQueen Mathilde of Belgium
- DQueen Margrethe II of Denmark
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Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark signed them 'Ingahild Grathmer', an anagram of Margrethe plus her middle names. She had sent Tolkien drawings in the early 1970s and he noted how closely they matched his own style.
Q 10Which monarch jammed with Benny Goodman and patented a rainmaking technique?
- AEmperor Akihito of Japan
- BSultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei
- CNorodom Sihanouk of Cambodia
- DBhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand
Show answer
Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand
Bhumibol wrote 49 compositions, played with Benny Goodman in Bangkok in 1956 and at Goodman's New York home in 1960, and was the only Thai monarch to hold patents: one for a wastewater aerator and others for 'sandwich' rainmaking.
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