The current chancellor, Olaf Scholz, is also proving stellar in his own right: 21,808 euros was spent on hair and makeup in 2023, and 38,910 euros the previous year.

The younger Mr Scholz joined the SPD’s youth movement in 1975 as a firebrand left-wing activist and was pictured at peace protests sporting wool sweaters and an unruly crop of long hair.

Olaf Scholz travels to Ukraine and then meets Russia's Vladimir Putin this week, ... The young man had a mass of curly hair and a passion for politics. And, one day in 1975, ...