Buckingham Palace has shared a list of official gifts received by the Royal Family in 2023 – and what a list it is! Items range from the sweet (literally) and interesting, to the weird, wonderful and ostentatious.
Oddly it’s taken more than a year for the 2023 list to come out, but this information gives us insight into what we see at almost every public engagement: royal gifts, often nominal in value and related to the organisation or location being visited.
There are of course tantalising glimpses of what could be very special, future historic items, but the lack of detail thwarts a better understanding.
Take a look at the highlights we found below.
King Charles’ official gifts from 2023
saw plenty of official figures send gifts. Nature was an enduring theme in the list of official presents for The King, with the people of Australia making a contribution to the conservation of the Western Ground Parrot, while the Duke of Marlborough sent 12 Blenheim oak trees.
Some were more personalised: Floris, the royal-warrant holding perfumers, sent ‘two special eau de parfum’ fragrances – Charles R’ and ‘Camilla R’ – to mark the Coronation.
The King of Bahrain’s gift probably took the top spot for impressiveness though. He sent a Rolls-Royce Cullinan Series II car, which is now part of the Royal Fleet, to mark the historic occasion.
From other visits and occasions, The King was given a ‘sticky rice basket and traditional equipment in which sticky rice is stored’ from the Ambassador of Lao, while the President of Germany offered a Beethoven CD and DVD set during Charles’ visit, with a rose tree. Joe Biden gave a pair of cufflinks during an audience, but we have no details on these.
President Zelenskyy – whom The King met again only recently at Sandringham – shared a few presents during an audience that year, including a ‘signed Ukrainian ship’s flag with dedication, accompanied by a framed picture explaining that the flag belonged to a landing ship which was awarded the President’s award for courage and bravery’, amidst the ongoing Russian invasion.
Presents given to Queen Camilla
Queen Camilla received an embroidered giraffe from the First Lady of Kenya, table mats from The Agong of Malaysia and The Raja Permaisuri Agong, and honey from the hives on the roof of Mansion House, as coronation gift from Lord Mayor of London.
A keen reader, Peter James sent a copy of his new book, ‘Picture You Dead’ in the post to Her Majesty. Camilla chose his Roy Grace series as her favourite fictional detective, which the author said moved him ‘to tears’. She previously had featured one of his works in a season of The Reading Room, borne out of lockdown.
Another book on the list was one called ‘The Authority Gap: Why Women Are Still Taken Less Seriously Than Men and what we can do about it’ by Mary Ann Sieghart. The Queen has worked in support of equality, and in particular against domestic violence for a number of years but this wasn’t something we expected to see…!
Brooches appeared a few times on the list including one with Camilla’s cypher from The King and Queen of Malaysia, and an undefined brooch from The Crown Prince of Kuwait.
William and Kate got presents for the little ones
William and Catherine gave separate lists for individual trips only, which implies they do not wish to share away day gifts for the rest of the year.
Food is a popular gift. There were sweet goodies in France in the form of honey, biscuits and sweets from the Mayor of Marseilles for The Prince and Princess of Wales, and the Prince received many gifts for his young children, including three ‘fire safety gift bags’, fire hats and t-shirts during a trip to New York for Earthshot.
In Poland, William received five paintings from members of the public, while on a trip to Singapore he got eight baseball caps across different visits…!
Popular Princess Anne
During a visit to Pershore College in Worcestershire, Princess Anne was given fruit juice, and while in Aachen she took home a box of Printen, which are traditional local sweet biscuits.
Anne seemed to be fairly popular for postal gifts post, including a wealth of books, some with a more direct connection than others. Many of her gifts relate to patronages or longstanding relationships, such as a written history of the Royal Veterinary Corps from 1962-2021 (she is their Colonel-in-Chief) and a mounted lighthouse lightbulb; Anne is patron of the Northern Lighthouse Board and fascinated by the coastal structures.
But she was also the recipient of… less obvious items! During the State Visit of South Korea in 2023, The King’s sister received Korean beauty products (yes, really), and for her birthday that year someone sent her ‘2 x Disney DVDs (The Jungle Book and Bambi) and a framed picture showing an inspirational message’.
Variety of items for Edward and Sophie
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh were given wide ranging items, like playing cards, sparkling wine, soil conditioner, a hand-crafted wooden Charcuterie board, and a turkish coffee machine.
Edward was favoured with many books, bags of coffee and two sets of cufflinks, while from the Chairperson of the Garvagh Vintage Tractor and Clydesdale Show he received three videos of the show itself. The President of Turkey gave him a tie and books.
During a trip to the Hague, Sophie – then Countess of Wessex – received a pair of slippers, and beaded earrings and a clutch bag, while in the Bahamas she receive no less than three handbags of various materials.
Also on this trip, the couple received ‘local produce’, described as ‘jams, marinades, sauces, spices, tea bags, turmeric soap, earrings’.
Their children, Louise and James, were not forgotten, both receiving framed Harry Potter posters from a visit to a prop store.
Minor Royals and their gifts
The Duke of Kent, and The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester also had lists of a much smaller kind. Prince Edward was the recipient of two walking sticks (he turned 88 in 2023), and a weathervane.
Prince Richard and Birgitte got to take home a sourdough loaf of bread, a ceremonial commando dagger, gloves and a charity keyring.
You can browse the full lists of 2023 gifts here.
