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| Royal wedding gifts included the Girls of Great Britain Tiara. Images from Wikimedia Commons and Flickr |
Despite the austerity measures in post-war Britain, the
wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Lt. Philip Mountbatten was a welcome
respite and it was marked by enormous outpour of public affection, both at home
and abroad. About 2,500 gifts were showered to the young couple. When news came
out that the princess would be using coupons to buy her wedding dress, gifts of
coupons were sent but they had to be
returned.
Presents arrived weeks before the wedding, but it
was only on the 17th and 18th of November that those who had given presents
were invited to St. James’ Palace to see them. Gifts from members of the
British Royal Family found a prominent place in the Throne Room. From the bride’s
parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, a necklace of diamond and rubies and
two strings of pearls were given to the princess. Queen Mary, meanwhile,
presented her granddaughter with the famous Girls
of Great Britain and Ireland tiara, a pair of diamond earrings and
diamond brooch. A more practical Princess Margaret gave her sister a cream
plastic picnic set and some-table glassware.
The variety of the presents from around the world ranged
from from the Aga Khan’s gift of a chestnut filly and set of Dresden porcelain from
the Vactican, to hand- knitted jumpers, embroidered samplers and home-made tea
cosies. Perhaps two of the most priceless gifts the future queen had received
were the tiara from the Nizzam of Hyderabad and 96 rubies from people of Burma,
both were later used to create the Burmese
ruby tiara.
Gifts from the Commonwealth were countless. The people of
Kenya gave her a hunting lodge, while the Canadian sent her a mink coat and fur
wrap from Newfoundland. A gold salver came from Australia while the Kiwis
thoughtfully gave her a writing desk. Mahatma Gandhi presented the Princess
with a hand-woven tray cloth; Queen Mary, under the mistaken impression that it
was a loincloth, commented’ “Such an indelicate gift… what a horrible thing.”
Since the new couple would definitely begin a family soon, they
received many practical items that were
useful for homemaking, including a vacuum cleaner, a fridge, a sewing machine
and even wallpaper. One lady from Brooklyn worried about food shortage in
Britain that she sent them a turkey! At
the Princess’s request some of the wedding presents took the form of hospital
endowments and subscriptions to charity.
The couple’s wedding cake, nine feet high and constructed of
four tiers, was created with the intention of reaching out to the common
wealth, and as such used ingredients from around the world, including some
given by the Australian Girl Guides. After the wedding, slices of cake were
distributed all over the country.
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