Royals

Queen reveals mind-boggling array of treasures

Apr 04, 2017

The Queen receives hundreds of gifts each year, but doesn't consider them her personal property.

What do you give the woman who has everything? A bag of salt.

Yes, really. That’s one of the mind-boggling array of gifts due to go on show in an exhibition called Royal Gifts: A Summer Opening at Buckingham Palace, that promises to give visitors an insight into the thousands of presents the Queen has received during 65 years of state visits.

The gifts on show include ones from world leaders such as the former US president Dwight D. Eisenhower and former South African president Nelson Mandela.

The bag of salt came from Salt Island, in the British Virgin Islands, and was sent to the monarch to celebrate her 90th birthday last year.

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Some of the treasures on display are far more glittering, however.

There’s a large, golden model ship, presented to the Queen in 2015 by Chinese president Xi Jingping. According to the palace, “the prow of the ship is decorated with a dove and olive branch medallion, emblematic of peace, whilst the sides of the hull are decorated with elements from Dunhuang frescoes, as well as traditional Chinese symbols of friendship and peace”.

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There’s a silver fruit bowl, complete with silver fruits, presented by Zambia in 1991, a brightly-coloured throne from the Yoruba people of Nigeria given in 1956, and a pair of Tongan baskets that were given to Queen Elizabeth by Tonga’s Queen Salote Tupou during a Commonwealth visit in 1953.

More recently, the Queen was given a London Underground sign by the Aldgate East Tube Station during a visit in 2010 to commemorate the July 7 London tube bombing.

The monarch receives am amazing array of presents, which are revealed every year in an official list. The presents received on state visits can be worn or used by the Royal Family but they’re not considered their personal property so can’t be sold, and the royals don’t pay tax on them. Instead, the gifts are kept in the Royal Collection that’s held in trust by the Queen for the nation.

The Victorian state government, for example, gave Queen Elizabeth a pair of crotched poppies last year.

Presents also poured in for the Queen’s 90th birthday in 2016, including two red stags from the Woburn Abbey Deer Park. Animal gifts are handed over to the London Zoo or other suitable homes.