.jpg?fit=900%2C676)
The Queen has received countless amazing and priceless gifts during her 65-year reign, and now we all have the opportunity to go see them in all their glittering glory.
If you’re planning a trip to London, make Buckingham Palace one of your stops because its putting on an exhibition of the Queen’s most unique gifts, which track her time as the reigning monarch.
“The exhibition will explore Her Majesty’s role as Head of State, Head of the Commonwealth and Head of Nation, and includes gifts given during State Visits, overseas tours and official engagements and those presented to mark significant moments in The Queen’s life,” according to a statement from the Royal Collection Trust.
“More than 250 objects from some 100 countries and territories” will be on display, from world leaders such as Dwight D. Eisenhower and Nelson Mandela. Amongst some of the irreplaceable objects are the Yoruba throne, which was presented to the Queen from the people of Nigeria in 1956. It features intricate bead work which is a sign of wealth and status.
The Yoruba throne. Photo: Royal Collection Trust
Rumour has is Prince Philip’s London taxi cab will also be in the collection, after he retired it from service earlier this year. The standard, average- looking black Metrocab has been a prized possession of the Prince’s since 1999, and was used to transport him unnoticed around the city.
Gifts the Queen received for her 90th birthday
In 2016, the Queen celebrated her 90th birthday and no doubt the gifts came flooding in from around the world.
Some of the weirdest and most wonderful were:
~ A bag of salt from the British Virgin Islands
~ A pair of young Red Deer stags from Woburn Abbey Deer Park gifted by the Duke of Bedford
~ A digging machine used to build tunnels under London, from Crossrail
~ A maple tree from the St George Society in Toronto
~ Post-it note holder from an Edinburgh jewellers
~ A horse given to her by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, named Sir John
~ A limited-edition Newmarket Monopoly set, gifted by the National Heritage Centre for Horseracing and Sporting Art
Gifts the Queen received throughout her life
Over her many years in the Palace, the Queen has received even more unusual gifts, some of them entirely unnecessary:
~ An elephant was gifted to Her Majesty by Cameroon in 1972, which was then donated to the London Zoo
~ She received a bar of black soap from Ballarat in Victoria, Australia . Designed to kill fleas on dogs, the soap was popular with miners in the 19th century
~ In 1947, 500 cases of tinned pineapple was sent as a wedding present from Australia (Queensland we imagine)
~ For her Diamond Jubilee, a 437,708 square kilometre of Antarctica was named after the Queen
The presents received by the Queen and the Royal Family (including Prince George and Princess Charlotte) can be worn or used by the Royal Family but they’re not considered their personal property.
Gifts can’t be sold and they don’t pay tax on them. Instead, the presents are kept in the Royal Collection that’s held in trust by the Queen for the nation, and can be used in exhibitions.
So book your tickets, to see these treasures in real life.
