Princess Kate is often given flowers as a memento during a royal visit (Image: Getty)
Member of the Royal Family are often pictured being handed garlands of gorgeous flowers while out on royal engagements, sometimes more than they could possibly know what to do with.
Luckily the royal households have a plan to make sure that no plants are wasted or disposed of, with Princess Kate, Princess Anne and duch*ess Sophie given thousands of bouquets between them each year.
King Charles and Queen Camilla are notoriously green-fingered and it seems their passion for the environment extends to other members of the family who try to make sure the flowers are "always reused".
Keith Roy with the Monarchist League of Canada said that the blooms are often given away to local churches or charities, while Kate will take some home to Adelaide Cottage for decoration.
If they are on a foreign royal tour, it is said the royals take their flowers back to their hotel rooms and ensure they are donated to local charities, churches and organisations.
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Princess Kate takes some flowers home for decoration (Image: Getty)
The flowers and branches which adorned Westminster Abbey last May for the Coronation have also found a new purpose, going to help a charity that Queen Camilla is patron of.
They were donated to Floral Angels, a charity run entirely by volunteers that turns those flowers into bouquets and arrangements to share with care homes, hospices, shelters and other vulnerable members of the community.
Flowers are not the only gifts frequently given to royal visitors as they are often handed cuddly toys, with the late Queen Elizabeth becoming synonymous with Paddington Bear during the last year of her reign.
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Queen Camilla giving out Paddington Bears (Image: Getty)
Any toys given to the royals must first of all pass a rigorous security inspection, and once they have done so the royal in question may do what they like with them.
If a gift is valued at a price under £150, the royals can choose to give it away to their members of staff or opt to donate it to charities which are close to their heart.
They may choose of course to keep it for themselves, with plenty of younger members of the family who would no doubt love such a sweet gift.
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The late Queen Elizabeth was given live animals as a present (Image: Getty)
In the year of her Coronation, 1953, the young Queen Elizabeth was sent some particularly exotic presents, such as an Arab stallion from King Faisal of Iraq, an Arab stallion named Alhehal and an Arab mare called Al Masouda from the Imam of Yemen and two polo ponies from President Perón of Argentina.
Chairman Bulganin and General Secretary Krushchev of the Soviet Union added to the impressive menagerie in 1956 when they sent two golden dun stallions for the Queen and then-Prince Charles, and a bear cub for Princess Anne who was rehomed at ZSL London Zoo.
Other animal gifts sent to the monarch were two American beavers and an Arctic fox from Canada, two giant anteaters and a sloth from Brazil and a young Nile crocodile from the people of Gambia.
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