You want to know whether descendants of France's royal family are still living, when Greece's monarchy lost authority, and the connection between the former royal family in Germany and England's royals?

You can try the encyclopedia or surf the Internet.

Or you could contact Dr. Mary Houck, a Wood County resident and one of the country's top authorities on royal history and collectors of royal memorabilia.

How much does she know?

Well, 126 stacks of books featuring royals themes, each about 4 feet high, take up nearly half the space in her dining room. A bedroom is devoted to magazines, thousands of them.

She clips every article related to monarchies and catalogues them according to family. Videotapes fill an entire bookcase - she has 16 hours on Princess Diana's death and funeral - and knick-knacks ranging from postcards, to commemorative dishes and cups, to lifelike ceramic statues and busts of royals fill several other rooms and cover every table, desktop, and bureau. About 300 scrapbooks sit in her garage.

If that isn't enough, Dr. Houck has been a lifelong collector of Hummels - figurines manufactured in Germany since the 1930s.

They take up the remaining space in the dining room.

“My hobbies have taken over my house and my life,” says Dr. Houck, a retired anesthesiologist. “But I have fun with it, and it keeps me busy and happy.”

The Hummels collection had been started by her parents in her native Flint, Mich. She continued to collect them into the mid-1990s but lost interest when their numbers proliferated, thus causing their uniqueness and value to decline.

As Dr. Houck's interest in Hummels waned, her fascination with monarchies intensified. A lifelong love of history and biography drew her to the field in the 1960s.

“I started with books, buying them and reading them,” she says.

Several things intrigued her. For one, most European royals are related in one way or another, and following their saga proved to be a spellbinding experience for Dr. Houck, 67.

“It's history unfolding, a continuing [story] that goes on and on,” she says.

Not content to track just British or even European royal history, Dr. Houck can recite the lineage of monarchies in countries such as Thailand, Jordan, Japan, Iran, and Egypt with ease. Of present concern to Dr. Houck is whether the Japanese government will change the law forbidding females to ascend to the throne because there are no male heirs apparent.

Over the years, as she traveled, she expanded her hobby through buying commemorative items. Still, the Hummels remained the more significant collection. However, after she retired in 1997, her life took several abrupt turns that ended up boosting her royals hobby.

Her mother, whom she cared for, died, and Dr. Houck survived heart problems and a cancer scare.

In 1999, she decided to learn about computers and soon discovered Internet auction houses that made available thousands of collectibles. For instance, she found a postcard from the German principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont, which ceased to exist with other German principalities in 1918. As a result, her collection of books and other commemoratives expanded. Realizing from her illnesses the brevity of life, she also started to travel more.

It was during a tour in Germany in 2000 that she met Arturo Beeche, a California-based royals expert and collector much like herself.

She previously had purchased postcards from him and was a subscriber to his bi-monthly publication, European Royal History Journal.

It quickly became the friendship of friendships, and the two have become a formidable team on royals history and collectibles.

“We have the same intensity in our interests,” says Dr. Houck.

Says Mr. Beeche, 37, a native of Costa Rica who can trace his lineage to Christopher Columbus: “She's old enough to be my mom, but that has never been an impediment on how well we travel together and get along.”

Utilizing her organizational skills and experience, Dr. Houck has become Mr. Beeche's archivist, making several trips a year to his Oakland home to whip his collection into shape.

The duo enjoy traveling to Europe, where they search for deals on books, postcards, and other royal commemoratives and visit their many royal friends for material for Mr. Beeche's journal. “We go around and interview the royals,” says Dr. Houck. “[They] like to know what's happening among themselves.”

Dr. Houck and Mr. Beeche soon will visit a cousin of Spanish King Juan Carlos in Madrid, a brother of the king of Belgium in Brussels, the Countess of Paris in France, and a niece of Prince Phillip of Britain. They move at a frantic pace.

“Traveling with me is not easy [as] I pack in a lot,” says Mr. Beeche, who speaks five languages. “But I don't think [Mary] has said no to any of my suggestions. She has a driving passion from not wanting to miss stuff and more energy than anyone I know.”

Eventually, Dr. Houck will turn her royals library and collection over to Mr. Beeche. They had decided during one of their trips that Mr. Beeche will someday establish an archive for royal scholars and researchers and set up an endowment so the archive can continue to purchase.

To Dr. Houck, the idea was a no-brainer. Otherwise, she says, “When I die, no one will give a damn about this stuff.”

First Published August 26, 2002, 11:33 a.m.