A Queen's Ransom for a Queen

Elizabeth got a little bit better than she gave

It was, well, a ransom fit for a queen. Not that Elizabeth II was exactly ad venturing for booty, but when Britain's monarch returned home last week from a three-week tour of six Persian Gulf states, she brought back an assortment of trinkets worth an estimated $2 million. Quite a haul, even for someone who is reputed to be the world's wealthiest woman.

The largesse was just a trifle embarrassing since the Queen got a little bit better than she gave. Her official gifts to her hosts in Kuwait, Bah rain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman were sterling silver salvers engraved with a picture of the royal yacht Britannia. The Guardian estimated that the salvers probably cost between $4,000 and $6,000 apiece, adding somewhat cattily that Britain's "balance of payments on the transaction looks extremely healthy." Still, as the paper observed, "it's the thought that counts."

According to one British correspondent who accompanied the Queen and Prince Philip on the tour, Elizabeth was "slightly stunned" by the lavishness of the gifts bestowed on her by welcoming sheiks and princes. In Dubai, for example, the Queen gave "a little gasp" when she opened her present from Sheik Rashid: a necklace studded with sapphires surrounded by 300 diamonds, with matching earrings and ring. That was in addition to a solid gold tray, on which stood a pair of solid gold camels beneath two solid gold palm trees. Bahrain gave her a solid gold palm tree, 18 inches high, that was hung with pearls representing dates, as well as a gold brooch in the shape of a sailing ship, studded with diamonds and rubies. Kuwait's offering: a double string of pearls and a solid silver model of an Arab TIM GRAHAM dhow. In Saudi Arabia, she picked up a gold incense burner, an amethyst-studded gold tray, a gold coffee jug shaped like a falcon and a pair of matching gold goblets. Prince Philip did not do badly either. His presents included several jewel-studded golden swords. The Prince, however, provided the one awkward moment on an otherwise triumphal tour. At the end of a sightseeing tour in Oman, he observed his car being driven away empty, and loudly uttered an obscenity rarely heard from royal lips.

What becomes of this embarrassment of riches? A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman, noting that "the gifts are given to the Queen personally, just as she gives gifts personally," said that the jewelry might be worn by Elizabethan a suitable state occasion, such as a return visit by one of her hosts, and that the treasures might be put on display eventually. Some Londoners thought the Queen should auction off the baubles and give the proceeds to charity. After all, the Queen already has one of the world's most awesome collections of personal jewelry. sb

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.