No one, however, could outdo the sparrow tsar, or so you might think.
I shall give you one-third of whatever the tsar gives me.
WHEN, a few years ago, word came that British bird lovers anxious about the decline of the house sparrow had appointed a sparrow tsar, it seemed that the tsar vogue must have reached its zenith.
A recent exhibition in Moscow on the tsar who liberated the serfs and the President who emancipated the slaves was marked by a sculpture of the two reformers.
Instead of wanting to overthrow the Kremlin, most Russians want Putin to turn up personally and solve their problems - an age-old model in which Putin plays the role of benevolent tsar.
This month the White House appointed a carp tsar to oversee the campaign.
But in Russia, where the notion of a tsar survived the Soviet Union, divided power is usually problematic.
Cass Sunstein, his regulation tsar, argues that the government should use market incentives to "nudge" people rather than bludgeoning them directly.
The new carp tsar should ensure better co-ordination.
In the name of the tsar, they demanded pelts as yasak (tribute) from reindeer herders, steppes nomads and hunter-gatherers.
He is a tsar in indifference.
The tsar of Russia was one of the world's most ferocious rulers, yet when the proletariat and the peasantry rose in revolution, was there anything left of him?
Mr Obama has also appointed an AIDS “tsar” and says he is working to develop a national AIDS strategy.
Besides, faith in the "good tsar" and low expectations of government mean that few blame Mr Putin, now Mr Medvedev's prime minister.
As she tried on the new coat and hat, the tsar looked on admiringly.
