What will King Charles and Queen Camilla give Pope Francis?
Papal gift giving has a long royal tradition - good, bad, and just plain odd
Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla will make a state visit to the Vatican and Italy in April.
A Feb. 7 announcement said that during their trip to the Vatican, “the King and Queen will join His Holiness Pope Francis in celebrating the 2025 Jubilee Year.”
The visit will mark Charles III’s first meeting with Pope Francis since his coronation in 2023.
The king’s aides are probably already considering which presents to bring to Rome, as a gift exchange is an essential component of an audience between a pope and head of state.
They may draw inspiration from past royal gifts to popes. Here’s a run-down of some of the more memorable.
🥃 Whisky
When Charles III’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and father, Prince Philip, visited Pope Francis in 2014, they presented him with a hamper filled with British produce.
The Prince, known for his wit, pulled out a bottle of whisky, highlighting the label. The single malt was “a 15-year-old whisky exclusive to Balmoral Castle,” reported the WhiskyCast website.
It’s not known if the pope later drank it or “regifted” it.
⚔️ A sword
When King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia visited the Vatican in 2007, he brought an unusual present. The king “gave the pope a sword, telling him it was ‘made of gold and precious stones,’” according to a New York Times report. Benedict was photographed touching the sword, which lay in its scabbard in a green felt-lined box.
📚 Books
Spain’s King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia brought a thoughtful present when they visited Pope Francis in April 2014. They presented the pope with the complete works of St. Teresa of Ávila and St. John of the Cross, two of the mystical treasures of Spanish Catholicism.
🐘 An elephant
In 1514, King Manuel I of Portugal famously gave Pope Leo X a white elephant named Hanno. Sadly, the pachyderm died just two years after arriving in Rome, after being given a gold-enriched laxative.