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The history of diplomatic gift-giving is a long and peculiar one.
The age-old custom of foreign dignitaries passing on tokens of goodwill goes back to the dawn of civilisation, though often these gifts can express ulterior motives.
Nowadays, though, gifts are given with the simple intention of extending diplomatic relations, often by parting with a symbol of the ambassador's country of origin. But that doesn't mean that blunders aren't sometimes made.
The Queen of the United Kingdom is officially the world's longest reigning monarch alive. As leader of the Commonwealth, the Queen has been head of 32 independent countries (though that number has now halved) over her 64-year reign. She is the most well-travelled monarch in history, with over 263 official foreign visits under her belt.
Official gifts are much like the Queen's official properties — they may be used but they are not personal property. Gifts can be eaten if consumable and if valued below £150 they can be donated to staff or charities but otherwise, they will eventually be amalgamated into the Royal Collection.
Regardless of whether or not she can peddle them on eBay, the Queen gets a lot of gifts. Not the kind of thing you'd be expecting in your stocking this month, though. These are some of the most wholeheartedly bizarre she has ever received, in order of least to most recent:
Australia, 1947: 500 tins of pineapple. Nothing says congratulations like exorbitant volumes of preserved tropical fruit. So thought the Queensland government when they sent the tins to the other side of the world as a wedding gift for Elizabeth and Philip. According to experts, it's likely the tins would have been passed on to the public to aid a recovering post-war Britain.
PA / PA Wire / PA Images
Fiji, 1953: Sperm whale teeth. Every time the Queen visits Fiji she is given 'tabua' — sperm whale teeth — which are considered the most esteemed articles in Fijian ceremonial practice.
PA / PA Archive / PA Images
Canada, 1958: Totem pole. Stepping in for Elizabeth, the Queen Mother received a 100-foot Totem pole on her behalf from Chief Mungo Martin of the Kwakiutl Indians, a tribe located on Vancouver Island.
PA / PA Archive / PA Images
France, 1972: Grasshopper shaped wine cooler. Well known for his appreciation of modern art, the unique wine container was given to the Queen by French President Georges Pompidou. The famous Parisian museum, Centre Georges Pompidou, was commissioned by the President in 1969.
Toby Melville / PA Archive / PA Images
Cameroon, 1972: African forest elephant. Jumbo III was donated to the London Zoo and died in 1988.
The Queen visiting London Zoo.
EMPICS Entertainment / PA Images
USA, 1991: Cowboy boots. Though it's rather unlikely the queen has ever sported the boots given to her on a state visit to the US, she's a renowned horse fanatic — she had her first riding lesson aged three and her horses have won over 1,600 races.
The gifted cowboy boots at the Jubilee exhibition of Royal Gifts at Buckingham Palace, London.
Kirsty Wigglesworth / PA Archive / PA Images
Australia, 2000: Dog soap. On a visit to the former gold-mining town of Ballarat, the Corgi-loving Queen was given a bar of Tilley's 'Timid Joe' dog soap. She wasn't charged the 40p pricetag.
Queen Elizabeth II with Princess Margaret and corgis, arriving at London Airport aboard an RAF transport command comet from Scotland, October, 1962.
Sport and General S&G Barratts / EMPICS Archive / PA Images
British Virgin Islands, 2015: Salt. The British Virgin Island's response to the question of what to buy the woman who has everything is a historic one. Back in Victorian England, it was customary for the Governor of Salt Island to send the British monarch a pound of salt in lieu of rent. Now, the tradition has been revived — if only as token gesture.
Queen Elizabeth II is shown the process of salt crystal manufacture as she visits Maldon Salt Crystal Company in Essex, 2010.
Chris Jackson / PA Archive / PA Images
Germany, 2015: Nicole Leidenfrost painting. Last year, the President of Germany, Joachim Gauck, gave the Queen an acrylic painting of her and her father. Unimpressed, the Queen swung a proverbial haymaker, "it's a strange colour for a horse," before following with a killer uppercut, "that's supposed to be my father, is it?"
