Queen's quirky Commonwealth gifts go on display

Queen Elizabeth II. Photo / AP

A selection of colourful gifts to the Queen from Commonwealth nations is to go on display this weekend as part of the build-up to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

More than 70 gifts, brought back to London by the Queen from trips as far afield as Pacific islands throughout her 62-year reign, will be on show at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.

They include a tapestry from Botswana, a shell collage from the Bahamas, a coconut calabash bowl from Belize, an Inuit wall hanging, a batik from St Kitts and Nevis, and a model of a totem pole from the Cowichan Coast Salish First Nation, Canada.

Queen Elizabeth visits Palmerston North in 1953. Photo / NZ Herald

Many of the items were presented to the Queen in traditional ceremonies by indigenous peoples during more than 200 visits she has made to Commonwealth countries during her reign.

At the start of the Queen's reign she undertook her longest ever Commonwealth tour.

Taking in the West Indies, Australasia, Asia and Africa, it lasted seven months from November 1953 to May 1954 and covered over 64,300km.

To mark her Silver Jubilee in 1977, The Queen visited 14 Commonwealth countries and travelled over 90,100km, and for the Golden Jubilee in 2002 Her Majesty visited Jamaica, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

As part of the 2012 Diamond Jubilee celebrations, members of the Royal Family visited every realm in the Commonwealth in support of The Queen.

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall during their visit to Feilding, NZ, in 2012. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Commonwealth: Gifts to the Queen exhibition opens on March 21 and runs until November 2 at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Scotland. It has been organised to coincide with the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July and August.

The Commonwealth baton relay began last October and the baton is visiting 70 nations and travelling 118,000 miles before its arrival in Glasgow in July.