Paul Brummell - Diplomatic Gifts

DIPLOMATIC GIFTS

PAUL BRUMMELL

DIPLOMATIC
GIFTS

A HISTORY IN FIFTY PRESENTS

HURST & COMPANY, LONDON

First published in the United Kingdom in 2022 by

C. Hurst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd.,

New Wing, Somerset House, Strand, London, WC2R 1LA

Paul Brummell, 2022

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United Kingdom

The right of Paul Brummell to be identified as the author of this publication is asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

A Cataloguing-in-Publication data record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 9781787387614

This book is printed using paper from registered sustainable and managed sources.

www.hurstpublishers.com

To June and Bob, my mother and father.

CONTENTS

Hydraulic organ depicted on a Roman second-century CE mosaic found at Zliten in modern-day Libya.

King Louis IX carrying the Crown of Thorns.

The Pallium of St Lawrence.

Four Studies of an Elephant by Giulio Romano, depicting the animal gifted to Pope Leo X.

The Field of the Cloth of Gold, a 1S4S work of the British school. A venue for competitive gift-giving between King Francois I of France and King FlenryVIII of England.

The horned helmet given by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I to King Henry VIII.

Giambolognas Samson Slaying a Philistine.

The Amber Room, photographed in 1917.

A plate from the green ribbon service given by King Louis XV of France to Empress Maria Theresia.

The Duke of Wellington hosting a banquet in the Waterloo Gallery, Apsley House.

The Shah Diamond, depicted on a Soviet stamp of 1971.

Caroline and Kerry Kennedy peering from the Resolute desk in the Oval Office.

The Volgograd Planetarium.

One of the crates used to transport the pandas gifted by China to the United States following President Nixons visit in 1972.

Windsor Park Stadium, Roseau, Dominica.

Column with Speed Lines, a lithograph by Ed Ruscha.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Michael Dwyer, Publisher and Managing Director at Hurst, for the unstinting encouragement he gave me to write this book, and the faith he has shown in it. The great team at Hurst, including Daisy Leitch, Kathleen May and Lara Weisweiller-Wu. Tim Page, for his editing skills. Alexander Evans, Strategy Director at the Cabinet Office, whose introduction to Michael set me on this road. Jan Melissen, Jorg Kustermans and all fellow participants in a Hague Journal of Diplomacy forum that provided a fine opportunity to hear from others exploring the fascinating world of diplomatic gifts. Mark McWilliams, Cathy Kaufman and all those involved in organising the inspiring Oxford Food Symposium, for the opportunity to prepare and present some thoughts on the use of food and drink as a diplomatic gift. Emmanuel Magro Conti, Senior Curator, Maritime and Military Collections at Heritage Malta, for introducing me to the story behind the Maltese portrait of Catherine the Great. Above all, my thanks to Adriana, for her support, enthusiasm and understanding, and to George, source of the most lovely distraction. And while I have no intention of thanking the COVID-19 pandemic for anything, its actions in closing off alternative sources of entertainment did encourage me to focus more squarely on the researching and writing of this book.

FIGURES

Four Studies of an Elephant by Giulio Romano, depicting the animal gifted to Pope Leo X. Now at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. (Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo) The Field of the Cloth of Gold , a 1545 work of the British school. A venue for competitive gift-giving between King Franois I of France and King Henry VIII of England. (GL Archive / Alamy Stock Photo) The horned helmet given by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I to King Henry VIII. (Marco Secchi / Alamy Stock Photo) Giambolognas Samson Slaying a Philistine . Twice a diplomatic gift: from Ferdinando I de Medici to the duke of Lerma, and later from Felipe IV of Spain to Charles, Prince of Wales. (Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo) A plate from the green ribbon service given by King Louis XV of France to Empress Maria Theresia. (Courtesy of Adrian Sassoon, London) The Duke of Wellington hosting a banquet in the Waterloo Gallery, Apsley House, the paintings of the Spanish Royal Collection lining the walls. A representation in a nearby underpass. (Photo: Paul Brummell) Cleopatras Needle in London, a gift from the governor of Egypt that took the recipients decades to collect. (Photo: Paul Brummell) Palm Cottage, Gillingham, home from 1855 to 1861 of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, the former slave gifted by King Ghezo of Dahomey to a British naval commander. (Photo: Paul Brummell) The Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree, gifted annually by the city of Oslo to London, in 2019. (Photo: Paul Brummell) John F. Kennedy Memorial, Runnymede, standing on the acre of English ground gifted by the United Kingdom to the United States of America. (Photo: Paul Brummell) The Maltese Apollo 11 moon rock, a gift from US President Richard Nixon. (Photo: Paul Brummell) Column with Speed Lines , a lithograph by Ed Ruscha. Ed Ruscha.Next page