Gin, cricket bats and dungarees: Royal Family reveals presents they received in 2019
A bottle of gin, a painting of swimming pigs, and a jungle’s worth of toys have been given to Royal Family members over the last year, Buckingham Palace has revealed.
Each year the palace publishes lists of the gifts given to family members either while on tours or at engagements or given to the Queen during audiences.
The 2019 lists shows Archie Mountbatten-Windsor left South Africa with plenty of toys for his nursery, in his first royal tour.
The youngster, who was taken on tour by his parents the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in September 2019, received soft toys including a monkey and a rhinoceros.
He was also given books, a bib, and some dungarees.
His grandfather, Prince Charles, was also given plenty of gifts for his youngest grandson.
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In Germany, The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall were given a tiny pair of brown leather lederhosen for Archie by the Minister-President of Bavaria Markus Soder.
Charles and Camilla received 36 presents for the Sussexes’ baby son, including four soft toy pretzels and two cuddly lions, when they were in Germany just days after he was born.
The Queen doesn’t travel abroad any more, but that doesn’t stop her receiving some exotic gifts.
President Borut Pahor of Slovenia tuned into the Queen’s love of horses and presented her with a 24-carat gold-plated horse comb.
A pop-up book was sent through the post by Chinese President Xi Jinping and its subject was the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.
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The governor-general of The Bahamas presented the monarch with a painting of a swimming pig, while the Regiment de la Chaudiere of Canada gave her a boxed bottle of gin and two glasses.
Swimming pigs live on Big Major Cay, an uninhabited island in the Bahamas, and learnt how to paddle out to passing boats to receive food.
She also received three wood carvings of pygmy hippos from the ambassador of Liberia, a woven raffia hat from the high commissioner for Lesotho, and a decorative felt rug from the Kyrgyz Republic’s ambassador.
Closer to home, she was given an engraved pin by GCHQ marking its centenary, presented in a 3D printed box with a cypher code on the perspex lid, etched with “Thank you, Ma’am” in Hex code.
Her husband isn’t forgotten either. When Donald Trump came to stay last year, he brought the Duke of Edinburgh a personalised Air Force One jacket.
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The Queen was given a Tiffany poppy brooch as well as some boxes made by artisans.
The 94-year-old is also given a surprising number of books about herself. The Ambassador of Brazil presented her with ‘Protocol gives way to affection - The visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Brazil through the eyes of the press', commemorating the 50th anniversary of Her Majesty's visit to Brazil.
She was also given a book of pictures of her visits to Pakistan between 1961 and 1997.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge did not take their children on their royal tour to Pakistan last year, but they did come home with presents for them.
According to the lists, all three Cambridge children - George, six, Charlotte, four, Louis, two - were given cricket bats and traditional Chitrali hats while their parents were away.
William and Kate also came home from New Zealand with plenty of gifts for the kids, including a St John Ambulance station and ambulance play set.
Official gifts can be worn and used, but are not considered the royals’ personal property. The royals do not pay tax on them.
They can eat any food they are given and perishable official gifts with a value less than £150 can be given to charity or staff.
Gifts cannot be sold or exchanged and eventually become part of the Royal Collection, which is held in trust by the Queen for her successors and the nation.
The rules on official presents were tightened following the Peat inquiry in 2003 into the sale of royal gifts and the running of St James’s Palace.
