Duchess Catherine, Prince William and Prince George were inundated with a huge number of gifts throughout the last year – most of them on their royal tour down-under! But what do they do with them all?
When Duchess Catherine, Prince William and Prince George toured Australia and New Zealand last year, little George alone received an epic amount of gifts – from a soft toy bilby at Taronga Zoo, to his very own speedboat! The young Prince particularly love a giant wombat toy presented to him by the Governor General Peter Cosgrove – which was even bigger than he was!
Indeed, considering he is not even yet two-years-old, Prince George has already received some pretty weird gifts over his lifetime, including a plane, a scared orb from the Pope and an entire field of flowers in the Transylvanian hills, gifted to him by a Romanian Count.
Prince George even has his very own Crocodile, named George, which has its own Facebook page and was hatched on the day Duchess Catherine’s pregnancy was announced. Thankfully, the croc is kept for him at Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin, Northern Territory rather than left to roam the halls of Kensington Palace!
George’s parents too are constantly honoured with gifts wherever they go. While in Australia they were presented with a hip flask, a sleeping bag and a beanie hat made of camel hair. In total their official engagements netted them an additional 44 pieces of clothing, 26 pieces of jewellery and 41 household items, among countless other gifts.
So what happens to this huge number of gifts that the royals receive year in and year out? Woman’s Day spoke to Caroline de Guitaut who has worked with the royal family for more than 20 years and is the Senior Curator of Decorative Arts for the Royal Collection Trust.
The royal collection itself is a massive collection which numbers over a million objects – many of them gifts.
Caroline says gifts received range enormously, but that the Royal Collection Trust has a particular interest in “things that are representative of that particular country – so if there’s a strong tradition in the craft or design.”
Pictured: Caroline de Guitaut – the Senior Curator of Decorative Arts for the Royal Collection Trust
“All of those objects are very carefully looked after. Occasionally they’re loaned to other museums and institutions so that they can be displayed in a more suitable context – rather than a royal palace where they may look out of place or potentially not be seen by as many people. That’s another way that they can be shared with the nation.
“And then gifts that tend to be handed over in a more informal way by members of the public or sent in. You know, for example, for some of the Queen’s big anniversaries or jubilees, hundreds of thousands of things are sent in and obviously it’s very difficult to keep all these things. But the majority ARE kept and carefully catalogued and looked after.”
So whatever happened to that giant wombat that was given to Prince George?
“It’s probably in his nursery!” Caroline laughs.
“I don’t know that for sure (but) I would think that things like that which, are quite useful really (for a one-year-old!) are things that would be very much used and enjoyed!”
Caroline is currently in Australia to accompany the Queen’s Wattle Spray Brooch which is being loaned by Her Majesty to Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum as part of the ‘A fine possession: jewellery and identity’ exhibition, from 16 January.
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