Sloths, cowboy boots and horse sperm: The weirdest gifts given to the Queen — mashable.com

LONDON — What do you get the person who can ask the taxpayer for everything? That's the question that's stumped presidents and heads of state over the years as they've paid visits to the Queen at her Buckingham Palace pad. Silverware's a bit passé and giving jewellery is somewhat gauche — how about a squirt of horse's sperm? The British Royals tend to play host to two state visits per year and the tradition of gift exchanges goes back centuries. Henry VIII and Francis I of France swapped pressies back in 1520 and monarchs have been showered with gifts ever since. George III bagged a cheetah in 1764 while George IV raised him a giraffe in 1827.

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