WATCH ABOVE: Books, booze and an Olympic torch are among the many gifts given to Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of the Royal Family this year. Leslie Young reports.
Books, booze and an Olympic torch are among the many gifts given to Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of the Royal Family this year.
According to press releases from the Royal Family, the Queen and her relatives received hundreds of official gifts in 2014, ranging from the interesting, the useful, and the extremely dull.
One highlight has to be the Olympic torch from the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, given to Princess Anne. Anne is an accomplished equestrian who competed in the 1976 Montreal Olympics and is currently a member of the International Olympic Committee.
Canada’s Governor-General gave the Queen a riding crop when he visited for lunch last February. She also received a coffee grinder, a bristle brush boot scraper, some arrows, a tea set, and several books. One of those, The Versatile Profession – A History of Accountancy in Ireland since 1850, might require she crack open her new winterberry cordial and ginger wine before reading.
The Prince of Wales received several jars of honey during his visit to the Middle East, a fruitcake during his visit to Canada, and a bottle of “traditional Mexican liquor” while in Mexico.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, received a decorated kangaroo skin while in Australia, as well as a parrying shield and wooden hunting spear.
Prince George, the Royal Baby, will have more clothes than any one-year-old knows what to do with, including a possum skin cloak. He also received a rocking horse, teddy bears, footballs (both small- and regular-sized), a cricket bat, polo mallet, and a surfboard. It may be a while before he can use some of these toys.
Prince Harry got an automatic rifle while in Oman, though the press release notes that it was decommissioned. He also got a Chilean special forces knife.
Princess Alexandra, sadly, did not report a single gift.
So what happens to all of these exotic items given to royalty as they travel around the world? It turns out that there are some very specific guidelines.
According to a press release from the British Monarchy, “under no circumstances should official gifts be sold or exchanged.” But, they can be used or consumed personally by the member of the Royal Family (like the honey and liquor), or they can be loaned to a museum or other reputable organization. If they are small perishable gifts, like food, they may be given to charities or other people. Finally, they can be placed in the “Royal Collection”: a historical archive.
Of course, if most gifts ended up in the Royal Collection, they would pretty quickly run out of space to store them. So, the gifts are carefully evaluated annually for their historical, aesthetic, national and financial value. If they are not deemed worthy of storage or addition to the Collection, they might be donated to charity, or failing all other options, destroyed.
That’s right – if the Queen doesn’t want her “framed multi-coloured paper origami bird” or miniature “Game of Thrones” throne, and they’re found to have no historical or aesthetic value, the items might be trashed.
Gifts received by the Queen
Gifts received by the Duke of Edinburgh
Gifts received by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George and Prince Harry
http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/media/documents
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