Elephants and cowboy boots: 9 utterly bizarre gifts given to The Queen by state officials
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cameroon, 1972: African forest elephant. Jumbo III was donated to the London Zoo and died in 1988.
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.
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.
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.
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?"
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