What do you get the woman who has everything when it comes to giving a wedding gift? What could one buy Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip on their wedding day?
Whatever one might have chosen is unlikely to be nearly as strange as what loved ones actually gifted them back in 1947 during their royal nuptials.
Marie Claire took a look back at some of the eccentric gifts that Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh got on their big day. After watching the documentary, The Majestic Life of Queen Elizabeth II — and of course watching The Crown on Netflix — the public finally got a peek into the 1700 wedding gifts the then-Princess Elizabeth received.
Queen Elizabeth was given many pairs of nylon stockings — it was after the war, and stockings were hard to come by — according to royal biographer Robert Lacey.
“One of the charming things is that, I think, of the 1700 or so wedding presents that were officially listed, several hundreds were nylon stockings, which loyal ladies in the country decided to send to the princess.”
Someone must think that the queen and the prince like fruit, because they got a large box of apples and 500 tins of pineapple.
Married in 1947, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip will celebrate their 71st wedding anniversary this year.
I mean just look at them, Couple goal like this. #KeKe #Tejasvini pic.twitter.com/qeNFEhnpY8
— Kumarpalsinh Jhala (@KeKeJhala) July 20, 2018
Perhaps to make some cocktails with the fruit, the two received twelve bottles of sloe gin. The royal family’s website says that in total count, the couple received 2,500 gifts from around the world in the first year — and 10,000 telegrams and messages of congratulations.
“Mahatma Gandhi sent a present. It was a piece of cotton lace that he spun himself, and is embroidered with the words ‘Jai Hind’ (Victory for India).”
Queen Elizabeth’s grandmother, Queen Mary, gave the two something practical — a bookcase — while Princess Margaret bought her sister and her new brother-in-law a picnic basket, perhaps for dining al fresco in Sandringham.
But it seems that the gifts between royals have gotten much more personal in the past decade, as evidenced by the christening gift that Prince Harry gave to his nephew, Prince Louis, per the Inquisitr . Prince Harry shared that some of his fondest memories of his mother were the times that she read to him from his favorite books, and so he thought buying the little prince a memory would be just the thing.
Harry bought Prince Louis a first edition Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne, a classic English piece which set the proud uncle back $10,000.
“He originally wanted to get Lewis Carroll’s Through The Looking Glass , which was on sale for £24,000 ($31,000) but decided Winnie the Pooh would be more suitable for a first tome. Robinson Crusoe was William’s favorite book, but Harry loved all things, [A.A.] Milne.”
