Gifts Given & Received During State and Other Visits

[srivishnu]

Please fell free to discuss gifts given by HM The Queen & The Duke of Edinburgh to the visiting Head of State & the host Head of State as well gifts received by Her Majesty and His Royal Highness from the visiting Head of State as well as the host Head of State.

To start,President and Mrs. Bush gave Her Majesty a bronze statuette “High Desert Princess” with a personal inscription on the bottom of the base. It is a replica of the original life size statue that is located in front of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Ft. Worth, Texas.
President and Mrs. Bush gave The Prince Philip an exclusive sterling silver eagle box by Tiffany & Co. with personal inscription on the inside lid.
President and Mrs. Bush gave Their Majesties a leather presentation box filled with a collection of documents from the National Archives. One of the items was a copy of an original letter from President Roosevelt to her father, King George, written in 1938. There were also photos from previous royal visits and a DVD of the footage from the Queen’s visit to the United States when she was Princess Elizabeth in 1951.
Their Majesties gave President Bush a sterling silver oversized plate by William & Son with gold seals including: the Presidential seal, the Royal seal and a center seal with the star of Texas surrounded by roses. There was a personal inscription on the back of the plate. They gave Mrs. Bush a gold and crystal clock with the Royal seal by William & Son.

[srivishnu]

The First Lady received a jewellery box made by The Queen's nephew Viscount Linly from The Queen.
President Bush received a solid silver rule engraved with the royal cypher & the US Presidential Seal,and a specially-bound copy of The Royal Treasures, A Golden Jubilee Celebration catalogue of a recent Queen's Gallery exhibition from the Duke of Edinburgh.
The Bushes gave the royal couple a specially commissioned set of China.

[srivishnu]

The gift given to the President of The Republic of Italy from The Queen & The Duke of Edinburgh : A pair of sterling silver reproduction Charles II goblets with gold washed interior.One is engraved with The Queen's cipher & the other with the Italian Presidential cipher.
The gift given to Siagnora Ciampi from The Queen & The Duke of Edinburgh : A hand crafted jewellery box in a special design by David Linley.It is made out of Swiss Pear with inlays of Ripple Sycamore marking the Royal cipher on the lid.
The gift given to The Queen from the President of the Republic of Italy & Siagnora Ciampi : a small gold box with blue enamel lid,depicting the presidential residence,Giardino Pontificio Sul Quirinal.
The gift given to The Duke of Edinburgh from the President of the Republic of Italy & Siagnora Ciampi : A dark,red leather desk-set,with blotter.

[srivishnu]

Queen Elizabeth II presents a gift of a silver rimmed crystal bowl to the Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan who in return presented The Queen and Prince Philip with a shell and lacquer work decorative box in the Carnarvon Room, Buckingham Palace, London, Tuesday May 29, 2007. The Japanese monarchs are on a 10-day tour of Europe.

[agogo]

Really, what does she do with all of the state gifts? There must be a massive royal gift warehouse somewhere in London.

[Lumutqueen]

Not neccessarily, she could put these gifts to good use, or she could store them somewhere and bring them out each time the giver returns.

[Kasumi]

It's not just jewels in the Royal family swag bag - Telegraph
For every magnificent suite of Bahraini blood diamonds staining the Countess of Wessex’s conscience, there are barrowloads of bizarre bric-à-brac, livestock, deadstock and random foodstuffs handed over as state gifts.
When Sri Lanka presented the Duke of Edinburgh with a baby elephant (with nary a thought as to how it might fit into his Ryanair hand luggage), it eventually found a home in London Zoo. Similarly, Princess Anne was given a brown Syberian bear by the Soviet Union, Prince Andrew had to nod and smile as he cradled his newborn Gambian crocodile and a pair of sloths were gifted to the Queen in Brazil in 1968.
Official gifts aren’t the property of the recipient, but are considered to have been received on behalf of the monarch. Royals who carry out foreign tours tend to bring home the most booty, and are allowed full use of the item for their lifetime, after which the gift passes back to the Queen.
It is she who then decides whether the two bags of basmati rice given to Prince Andrew by the Pakistan High Commission should be cooked and served with a tasty korma, displayed under glass at Buckingham Palace or thoughtfully passed down as an edible dowry to Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. Providing, of course, their mother doesn’t trough them first.
All presents are painstakingly logged and listed. Thus, we know that in 2008 the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall were given two wristbands, two baseball caps, four T-shirts and 18 CDs by the Bob Marley Museum in Jamaica: all of which conjure up a disturbing image of Charles and Camilla reggae-dancing that is almost impossible to expunge.
Until, that is, you consider the fly swat, finger puppets and self-assembly golf club kindly proffered by odd (in every sense) members of the public.

Sorry for posting this article here, I'm not sure it belongs this thread.