I have this code, which, for test purposes, I copied and pasted directly from the 1.6 tutorial.
sf::Font MyFont = sf::Font::GetDefaultFont();
// Create a graphical string
sf::String Hello;
Hello.SetText("Hello !\nHow are you ?");
Hello.SetFont(MyFont);
Hello.SetColor(sf::Color(0, 128, 128));
Hello.SetPosition(100.f, 100.f);
Hello.SetRotation(15.f);
Hello.SetSize(50.f);
And I get the runtime error in the title bar. I've tried having SFML load Xirod font, which I put in the project folder (VS 2010) and the executable folder. No dice.