The Royal Collection is full of dazzling jewels that haven’t seen the light of day in decades, and among those include some of the gifts that Queen Elizabeth received during her 1979 Gulf states tour. The 18-day trip included stops in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar, and during the historic tour, she was showered with priceless gemstones. However, the late Queen once told royal biographer Gyles Brandreth that she actually didn’t know what happened to some of the jewels.
In his bestselling book Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait, Brandreth—who knew the late Queen for decades—shares plenty of personal stories about the monarch, including one conversation they had about visiting the Middle East.
