Gifts galore for William and Kate on overseas trip

LONDON (AP) — The new Duchess of Cambridge was showered with gifts — from head to toe — on her first overseas visit as a member of the royal family.

Palace records show that Canadian officials and well-wishers gave the former Kate Middleton hats, tartan and peacock fascinators and three pairs of shoes during her visit to the country with Prince William last year.

The couple's office, Clarence House, has published lists of all the gifts the pair received on trips in 2011.

William's haul included shirts, cufflinks, a pilot's helmet from a unit of the Royal Canadian Air Force and a Canadian Ranger patrol knife.

Governor General David Johnson — the representative in Canada of William's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II — gave the couple a quilt, while Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper presented them with a woolen blanket, a framed photograph, souvenir edition Canadian magazines, two jackets, a bottle of whiskey and a Canadian flag.

A gift from Canada's health minister was arguably more practical — two mosquito traps.

The royal couple, who married last April at Westminster Abbey in London, visited Canada and the U.S. between June 20 and July 10.

The American leg of the tour took in California, where they received an iPad from Gov. Jerry Brown and four coasters from the sheriff-coroner of Santa Barbara.

During a solo visit to Australia and New Zealand in March, William was given items including a papier mache model of a cassowary — a large flightless bird — and a jar of the savory spread Vegemite.

Some gifts came from officials and dignitaries, others from unnamed individuals — everything from a "selection of baseball caps" to rubble from buildings destroyed in the Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake.

A palace official said Wednesday all gifts are registered and then either placed in storage or put on display in royal residences.

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Online: Royal gift list