Every year, the official gifts list provides insight into what members of the public, companies and dignitaries gave to Her Majesty and the rest of the Royal family. Many of the gifts commemorate visits and events.
Royal Central takes a look at some the gifts the Royal family received in 2014.
The Queen received an array of gifts in 2014. Mazen Homoud, Ambassador of Jordan, gave Her Majesty a large wooden coffee grinder. She also received two handcrafted tribal arrows in presentation case form the Society of Colonial Wars. Other gifts on the list included: a knitted poppy, a posy made from telegraph printing tape and old punch cards taken from the Science Museum Archives and a silver box containing soil from World War I battlefields to just name a few.
To mark the 350th Anniversary of the Royal Marines, The Duke of Edinburgh received case of beer as well as a commemorative coin. Prince Philip was also the recipient of a desk ornament with vial containing soil from each of the Belgian Cemeteries. The Duke of Edinburgh received gifts ranging from the The Royal Marines to Pope Francis.
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall not only received gifts during their visits this year, they also had a sizable amount to bring back to Prince George. During their visit to Canada, Prince Charles received an extensive list of items including some fishing flies as well as a t-shirt and a leather flying jacket. During their trip to Mexico, Camilla received many gifts including a Mexican charro saddle. During their visit to Colombia Charles received among many other items a walking stick.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge along with Prince George had an extensive list of gifts. George was given 686 gifts from overseas tours last year. William and Kate received 715 between them.
Gifts ranging from a decorated ostrich egg given to William in Malta to jar of honey and books from The President and First Lady of the United States were part of the extensive list.
The amount of gifts given to William, Kate and George from members of the public during their trip is rather amazing. The gifts Prince George received alone from the public in Australia is over 25 times more than Prince Philip received for the entire year. To give one an idea of the massive amount of gifts George received during the Australian leg of the tour with his parents, clothing and books alone totaled 141 items.
Prince Harry was the recipient of a case of olive oil in Oman, a bottle of single malt scotch whisky in Italy, numerous football shirts in Brazil and Chilean Special Forces knife whilst in Chile.
The Princess Royal was given a few unique gifts during 2014. The Princess was given a St James version of The Bible, a hand stitched Owl and the Pussycat Doorstop made by Prisoners working with the Charity, Fine Cell Work and an Olympic Torch From Sochi Winter Games 2014. The Princess and her husband attended the games last year.
The Duke of York received an array of books, pictures and even a salt and pepper shaker.
The Earl and Countess of Wessex were the recipients of many books and commemorative coins during 2014. Sophie and Edward were gifted Saskatchewan ice hockey shirts and a numerous other gifts during their September 2014 visit to Canada.
The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester received items that included a paperweight, tea towels and a pen holder made from pipe connector.
The Duke of Kent was on the receiving end of hampers of produce, jars of honey, bottles of gin and a ceremonial dagger in case from the President of Bulgaria, to name a few of the gifts he received during 2014.
Though official gifts are not their personal property, the Royal family can indeed use them or in many cases, partake in eating or drinking many of the items they received.
The act of gift giving has taken place for centuries. Henry VIII and Francis I of France traded gifts at the Field of Cloth of Gold in Northern France in 1520. Records show gift exchanges between James I and the Emperor of Japan in 1613, and George III and the Emperor of China in 1792-3.
The tradition has continued until this day. Some gifts are normal, such as books, paperweights or a photograph. Others have been rather unique such as the cheetah George III received in 1764 or the giraffe that George IV was gifted in 1827 by the Pasha of Egypt.
Featured Photo Credit: Michael Garnett via photo pin cc
A correction from Canada: There’s no such thing as an ice hockey shirt, they are called hockey sweaters!
As a hockey fan myself, I wanted to assume they were sweaters, but I did not deviate from the official list received from the palace as it was listed as a shirt.
I received a lovely thank you letter from The Queen after I sent her a copy of my book, Tea on the Titanic, for her birthday!!!
What a treasure! I know it will be one of your most prized possessions.
Yes, it is. I have one other from the Queen Mother when I had a birthday party in her honor for her 100th Birthday. I see you have a lot of posts and looks like you live in the States?
Yes, I live in Atlanta, Georgia. I’m a longtime Windsor watcher and amateur royal historian. I’ve read so much about the royal family I sometimes feel like I know them, but of course I’ve never met any of them. But I try to stay current on what’s happening with them.
It’s always been my dearest wish to visit Britain someday, but the current state of my health has made that very unlikely, even if I could afford it.
I would have loved to take the tour of all the royal sites in London and Windsor. I’ve toyed with the idea of buying something like one of the treasures you write about. It would be nice to have something tangible, but places like eBay charge a fortune for the real thing.
I hope you’ll expand your own collection, and thanks for sharing about your letters.