Getting someone - anyone - a gift can be stressful, but it must be extra difficult thinking of the perfect present for people with lives as charmed as the royal family.
Royals are often given gifts wherever they go and they are, indeed, allowed to accept them. Per the royal family's website, the only rule they state on accepting gifts is "that no gifts, including hospitality or services, should be accepted which would, or might appear to, place the Member of The Royal Family under any obligation to the donor".
So gifts without conditions are perfectly fine and over the years, there's been plenty of gifting from countries and dignitaries with some true marvels among them.
The most extravagant and surprising gifts given to the royal family
The Nizam of Hyderabad necklace
When it comes to incredible wedding gifts, none could really top the Nizam of Hyderabad necklace.
Worth an estimated £80 million and arguably one of the finest pieces of royal jewellery, the necklace was a gift to the then Princess Elizabeth in 1947 ahead of her wedding to Prince Philip.
The Nizam of Hyderabad - a title now not in use - was a ruler in a region of India and one of the richest men in the whole world. He asked the then young princess to pick whatever she wanted from Cartier and she went with a platinum necklace set with 300 diamonds.
Part of the Cross of Christ
For a moment in history like the Coronation of King Charles in 2023, it wasn't surprising that dignitaries and icons from around the world pulled out all the stops.
Pope Francis gifted the King pieces of wood said to be from the True Cross of Jesus Christ.
The Vatican believe the shards are from the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified.
An elephant
Perhaps one of the most bizarre gifts you could give anyone, never mind the Queen of England, Her Majesty was presented with her very own elephant in 1972.
A gift from Cameroon’s President Ahidjo, the elephant was named Jumbo. Jumbo didn’t spend his days frolicking around Buckingham Palace, sadly – he was sent to London Zoo and then Whipsnade Zoo, in Bedfordshire, afterwards.
A tandem bike
We know that Prince William and Kate Middleton are two royals with plenty of sporting prowess, so Boris Johnson's unconventional choice of wedding gift might actually be inspired.
Now a former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson was the Mayor of London at the time of the now Prince and Princess of Wales' iconic wedding in 2011, and gifted the newlyweds a tandem bike in the style of the 'Boris Bikes' which he introduced to the capital.
"I look forward to seeing the newlyweds on tandem wheels as they start their new life in Anglesey," he is quoted as telling crowds in Trafalgar Square on the wedding day.
The Vessel of Friendship
Gifted to Queen Elizabeth II during President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China state visit in 2015, the Vessel of Friendship was made of solid gold, enamel and oak.
Per the Royal Collection Trust, it is an exact model of "the treasure ship sailed by the navigator Zeng He of the Ming Dynasty".
It includes decorations such as a dove and olive branch medallion, emblematic of peace, and traditional Chinese symbols of friendship.
A box of mud
Gee. You shouldn’t have...
Well, to give it some respect, the gift was actually very thoughtful, especially in the light of how much the late Queen Elizabeth II devoted herself to honouring those who served.
In 2014, the box of mud presented to Her Majesty by the Wellington Barracks was a silver box of soil from the First World War battlefields.
A Hippo
More menagerie madness for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth back in 1961, when President Tubman of Liberia sent a most bizarre gift - two pygmy hippopotami.
These found their way to London Zoo - one would imagine the Corgis didn't take to them much.
A ton peat
Wedding gifts usually include toasters, plate sets and other goodies to help make a house a home. But when you're royal, that's taken care of. So what do you send for a wedding as anticipated as Princess Diana and the then Prince Charles?
Peat. Soil. Dirt. Naturally.
His Majesty was known for a keen interest in nature, so the gift was a thoughtful - albeit, odd - one. Sent by a council in Somerset, His Majesty received one ton of high-quality peat to use on his Gloucestershire estate, Highgrove.
A (wounded) bull
The 2018 royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was hotly anticipated around the world, and while the charitable pair asked for charitable donations in lieu of gifts, PETA India decided to do a bit of both.
They found a wounded Indian Bull which they housed and rehabilitated in a sanctuary in the couple's honour. They even named the bull Merry - a blend of their two names.
Land in the Caribbean
Some wedding gifts are more memorable than others. Take actual land in the Caribbean. Fit for someone as lavish and grand as Princess Margaret upon her nuptials to Antony Armstrong-Jones.
British aristocrat Colin Tennant (whose wife, Anne Coke, was Margaret’s lady-in-waiting) gifted the couple a plot of land on Mustique, a private island in the Grenadines. Margaret would cherish the gift, making Mustique one of her personal sanctuaries, escaping for hedonistic fun and peace away from the prying press.
She'd eventually establish the private villa called Les Jolies Eaux - The Beautiful Waters.
A Boucheron presentation casket
When you have nobility from a land as rich and glamorous as Monaco attending a historic ceremony, you'd expect the gifts to be of a high calibre. But Prince Rainier of Monaco really stepped up when he presented Queen Elizabeth II with a stunning, solid gold presentation casket on the occasion of her Coronation, on 2 June 1953.
The priceless piece includes small cabochon rubies and sapphires.
Golden horse comb
What do you get for the person who has everything? A comb for their horse made from more gold than some people will see in their whole lives. President Borut Pahor of the Republic of Slovenia presented Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with a 24-carat gold-plated horse comb, called the Golden Heritage.
A grasshopper shaped wine cooler
The royals are known to enjoy a cocktail or two, so President Pompidou of France's gift to the late Queen Elizabeth added a touch of avant-garde flair to their nightly imbibing.
The French president presented Her Majesty with a huge wine cooler shaped like a grasshopper, a strange choice that was indicative of the sculptural work of the celebrated artists Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne.
When you rotated its wings, it turned into a drinks table.
An Oyster card
When your face is on the money and you don't even need a driving licence to get around, there's something amusing about the decision to gift the late Queen an Oyster card - a card used to travel around on the London Underground.
Her Majesty was presented the gift on the 150th anniversary of the London Underground network.
A South African bull
Buckingham Palace has plenty of grounds, but is there enough space for a bull? Probably not.
However, during a 1995 visit to South Africa, Her Majesty was presented with a White Nguni bull from King of Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu of the Zulus.
The bull remained in South Africa, though.
500 tins of pineapple
A perfect gift for someone who also had 500 pieces of gammon going spare.
In 1947, the then Princess Elizabeth was sent 500 cases of tinned pineapple as a wedding present from Australia.
While it sounds excessive, it was thought that the tins would actually be doled out to members of the public struggling with a post-war economy.
A ridiculous amount of cheese
When Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in 1840, one of the couple's wedding gifts was one of the largest wheels of cheese in British history.
Measuring over 9 feet across and weighing more than 1000 pounds, the humongous cheese wheel was made from the milk of 750 cows from villages in Somerset.
Purple salt
The late Queen Elizabeth II was presented with a rather unusual bag of purple salt for her 90th birthday.
The bizarrely coloured salt came from the British Virgin Islands and was actually steeped in centuries of tradition: it was how the Salt Island would pay the annual rent to Queen Victoria from its famous salt ponds.
Horse semen
We’re guessing this one didn’t come with a gift receipt.
As unexpected as the gift might sound, it was actually a very on-brand gift for a talented horse breeder like the late Queen Elizabeth, who had a history of siring race-winning stallions.
She was offered over £5,000 worth of top-quality stallion stuff by champion horse breeder, Christina Patino, during a visit to the Irish National Stud and Gardens.
A rare Tiffany vase
The United Kingdom and the United States have long shared a special relationship, and President Obama and Michelle Obama sent the late Queen a real touch of American history in 2015.
The First Lady bestowed the Queen with a limited edition Tiffany vase, plus a gift box containing lemon verbena tea, a candle, two small pots of honey and a jar of honey butter from the White House kitchen garden.
A sword made of shark’s teeth
How do you impress someone who has had access to pretty much every aspect of high society her whole life? You come up with a gift they never could've got anywhere else.
During a trip to the Pacific island of Kiribati in 1982, the late Queen was presented with a sword known as a Tebute.
This unique weapon is made from the wood of a coconut palm, with edges made from shark teeth.
USB sticks
Some gifts are memorable for how thoughtful or lavish they are - while some are utter head-scratchers. While we don't know who gave it to them, we do know that the Prince and Princess of Wales once received... USB sticks. Very "we forgot to get a gift ahead of time and had to make do with whatever store was open," it isn't known if the USB sticks contained files.
Solid silver kiwis
When Princess Margaret married society photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960, the Queen's only sister was inundated with gifts from around the world.
Included in the wealth of trinkets were two solid silver kiwi birds - one nestling an egg between its legs - presented to the couple on behalf of the people of New Zealand.
These silver statuettes had an interesting second chapter as well. In 2006, four years after Margaret’s death, they were auctioned off for charity. Expected to go for less than £1000, they sold for £36,000!
An Australian menagerie
Six red kangaroos, two Brolga cranes and one fat-tailed dunnart... no, not a reinvented version of the Days of Christmas.
This array of Aussie wildlife was gifted to Queen Elizabeth II from the Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens to commemorate her Silver Jubilee in 1977.
The animals found a home in the London Zoo.
A marzipan German landmark
During a state visit to Germany, President Joachim Gauck presented the late Queen Elizabeth with a recreation of Berlin's iconic landmark, the Brandenburg Gate. But rather than being clay or metals, it was made entirely of Marzipan.
Points for creativity with this one.
A land rover
A British icon given to British icons for their 2011 wedding - Prince William and Kate Middleton were given a Land Rover for their nuptials.
In a charitable act, however, they decided to put the car to better use by giving it away. The couple held a draw at Clarence House to donate the vehicle to a chosen charity.
The lucky winner ended up being the Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team.
A portrait made out of bananas
We'd go bananas over such a creative gift, too.
This framed portrait of Queen Elizabeth II was made after weaving together several shades of dyed banana leaves.
The portrait was based on the late Queen's official Golden Jubilee photograph as its base and was presented to her by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda in 2006.
Cake ingredients
Perhaps one of the lower value items on the list in terms of money, but one which carried the value of generosity and warmth, the Australian Girl Guides Association showed their appreciation to the then-Princess Elizabeth ahead of her wedding to Prince Philip in 1947.
With England still dealing with the aftermath of World War Two, the generous gesture helped with a rationing society and gave Elizabeth the wedding cake of her dreams.
Thrones
Buckingham Palace has a decorated Throne Room, and we're used to seeing King Charles and Queen Elizabeth before him on the traditional British throne, but they have some spares should they ever need.
The late Queen was gifted two wooden Yoruba thrones by the People of Nigeria during a State Visit in 1956.
Per the Royal Collection Trust, "Embroidering the beading and creating patterns for beadwork chairs and footstools is an important spiritual exercise for the Yoruba people. The symbolism of the interlaced motifs denotes many aspects of spiritual life - power, the past, the future and respect for ancestors and descendants."
Giant Tortoises
The late Queen Elizabeth II was known for her love of animals - particularly her beloved Corgis and horses. In keeping with this theme, she was gifted a unique treat from the people of the Seychelles, who presented Her Majesty with two Aldabra giant tortoises.
The tortoises were gifted to London Zoo after being given to the Queen.
A luxury yacht
Okay, switching geographical landscapes temporarily, a hugely iconic royal marriage was celebrated with a deluxe super yacht that deserves a mention.
Aristotle Onassis - the Greek tycoon who would become Jackie Kennedy's second husband - gifted Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier a 147-foot super yacht for their wedding.
The Deo Juvante II was a floating palace and the Monégasque royal couple honeymooned on it.
Today, people can book the yacht as a luxury hotel as it operates in the Galapagos Islands.
The Koh-i-Noor diamond
One of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing 105.6 carats, the Koh-i-Noor diamond is truly one of a kind.
Persian for Mountain of Light, the Koh-i-Noor diamond has conflicting origin stories - and how it came to be part of the British Crown Jewels is also often debated. But one school of thought is that the illustrious diamond was gifted to Queen Victoria by Maharaja Duleep Singh, the last ruler of the Punjab, in 1849.
That gift would go on to make history, as the diamond has been present in the Crown Jewels for centuries, and currently sparkles atop the Crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
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