His dying mother, who called him "Soso," gasped, "You would have done better to have become a priest."

His paranoia was infamous and boundless. At his meals- which were gargantuan - a certificate had to accompany every dish:
"No poisonous substances found," and a doctor was on staff to periodically test the air.

He loved to play practical jokes: putting a tomato on a guest's chair as they stood up to propose a toast, sprinkling salt in a neighbor's wine glass, or pushing an official into the shallow pond on the grounds.

He was almost always portrayed with his left hand hidden, or its fingers curled round a pipe: to conceal the deformity of the hand. He told his second wife - who later committed suicide - that the deformity was caused by a horse and cart running into him when he was a child, and because his family had no money for a doctor, his hand never mended properly.