One thing that comes with royalty is privilege. No normal person would get away with taking random objects from someone, and having other people cover the costs of those items.

Kleptomania is a rare, serious mental health disorder characterized by a chronic, uncontrollable urge to steal items, even when they are not needed and have little value. This is what Queen Elizabeth II’s grandmother, Queen Mary, is believed to have suffered from.

Although suffered is maybe not the right word in her case, since she never really had to face the consequences for it. She had a passion for antiques and jewelry, and she had this urge to take things. Historians are generally reluctant in putting this label on her, they instead describe her as an intense, sometimes manipulative, collector.

Either way, she didn’t just visit her friends, she looted their living rooms. She would often express extreme admiration for an item in a host’s home, making them feel obliged to give it to her and if the owner didn’t give it to her, she’d wait until they turned their backs to then take it.

It could be a valuable snuff box, Chinese porcelain, an art piece, a Fabergé egg or a silver spoon. Her staff would follow her with a checkbook to pay of the owner. They called it “collecting”, or viewed it as a “five-finger discount”.

“She had kind of upmarket kleptomania” said Queen Elizabeth II’s distant cousin Princess Olga Romanoff. But it wasn’t quite as simple as stealing and more to do with preying on the obligations of others, owing to her elite status.

“She was famous for it, absolutely famous. Outside church she could say ‘I do like that coat’ and you had to give it to her”

Even if she were not diagnosed with kleptomania, rumors have circulated about the former Queen’s tendency to take things that were not hers. This has also been dramatized in television series such as Downton Abbey, where a lady’s maid steals small valuable items during a royal visit. These stories and comments suggest that there may be some basis for the allegations.

One thing we know for certain is that during her lifetime, she built a collection of immense value, which is now primarily held by the Royal Collection Trust.