All the Queen’s horses: exhibition of gifts betrays a rather well-worn theme
IT IS the age-old conundrum while visiting a treasured friend, what to buy the woman who has everything?
In the case of the Queen, the answer appears to be rather simple: a horse.
An exhibition showcasing a selection of the official gifts received by the Queen during state visits abroad has suggested one clear, if not altogether surprising, theme.
From France to Mongolia, Mexico to Slovenia, wise hosts have settled upon an equestrian-themed present, honouring her lifelong love of horses.
Each will be put on display by the Royal Collection Trust this summer in
Royal Gifts, the special exhibition celebrating 65 years of the Queen’s travels around the world.
It will include key items received on state visits abroad or hosted in Buckingham Palace, from the humble-buthe art felt offerings representing the developing world to extravagant ravagant jew-jew els. The more unlikely include nclude a linen bag of salt received from m the British Virgin Islands, commemorating morating a tradition that saw the monarch onarch paid an annual rent of a pound ound of salt on their birthday.
“They are always thinkingnking of the person that’s going g to receive the gift,” said Sally Goodsir, assistant curator or of decorative art. “The Queen’sen’s interests are well-known and quite often the gifts follow that. It shows how much thought goes into their production.”
Visitors to the exhibition, hibition, which opens on Saturday rday at Buckingham Palace and runs until October, will be treated ed to an array of horses and associated sociated paraphernalia, includinging a bronze model of a Lipiz- izzaner horse given by Janez ez Jansam, the prime minis- s- ter of Slovenia in 2007. The gesture was intended to represent 16-year-old Lipizzaner stallion, Kanizo, which had been presented to the Queen during a visit to Slovenia a year earlier but had remained at the Lipica Stud Farm.
In 2014, she received a porcelain model of a horse by artist Bruno Ecault, given by François Hollande, the then French president.
In 1999, Hungary came up trumps with a porcelain model of the young Princess Elizabeth on horseback, first issued when she was 11 and remade especially as a diplomatic gift from Arpad Goncz, its president.
Mexico’s spectacular 2015 present, a piece of art work based on the Tree of Life, includes the Queen depicted riding a grey horse, while the Duke of Edinburgh complements her opposite on a black horse.
Not to be outdone, Nambaryn Enkhbayer, speaker of the State Great Khural of Mongolia, brought with him a traditional instrument called the morin khuur, a fiddle decorated with a horse’s head on the top.
On occasion, the Queen has also beenb given the real thing.
QueenQu Beatrix of the Netherlandserland presented a mare namednam Valentine during her UK visit in 1982; it was stabled in the Royal Mews behind Buckingham Palace. The RoyalR Canadian Mounted Police havehav a tradition of equine gifts, includingincl black mare Burmese, whowh was presented as a seven-year-oldseven-yea in 1969 and carried the QueenQ to 18 Trooping the Colour ceremonies before being retiredre to Windsor.
The exhibition marks the Queen’s 898 state visits to 117 countries andan 188 official visits to CommonwealthCommon countries. Gifts on shows include those from worldwo leaders such as DwightDw D Eisenhower, NelsonNe Mandela and Xi JinpingJin in a “spectacular displaydis of craftsmanship fromfro across the globe”.