Obama’s Gift to Queen: an iPod

Nicole Martinelli ()

Obama’s Gift to Queen: an iPod

One note of levity from the controversial G20 summit in London is the exchange of gifts between US President Barack Obama to Queen Elizabeth II.

The AP reports: Obama’s gift of an iPod to Queen Elizabeth II came loaded with 40 songs from popular Broadway productions, including “The King and I,” “West Side Story” and “Dreamgirls.”

The iPod (exact model unspecified) was given to accompany a rare coffee table book of songs by composers Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, which Obama also gave the queen. It also came loaded with video of her time in Washington and Virginia in 2007 during a private meeting overnight.

The Queen is reported to have owned an iPod since 2005, so maybe he was thinking it was time for an upgrade.

Among the standards,  few selections stand out — “Seasons of Love” from “Rent” and “The Best of Times,” from “La Cage Aux Folles.”

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Wonder if they the tracks were selected by Reggie Love, Obama’s 26-year-old-jack-of-all trades and designated iPod stocker, who is following the President on his overseas trip.

The Queen reciprocated with a portrait of herself and her husband.

6 comments »

About the author

nicole_martinelli

Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco native who has lived in Milan and Florence, Italy. She's written for Wired.com, The New York Times and Newsweek. You can find her on Twitter , Facebook and Google+.

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  • Jeff

    First, I think this is a ridiculous choice of a gift for the Queen. I think the Obamas’ girls could have drawn pictures or made some sort of art for the Queen and that would have been more personal and much more appropriate.

    Second, show tunes are not all that on the iPod. It also contains:

    * Photos from the Queen’s 2007 White House State Visit
    * Photos from the Queen’s 2007 Jamestown, Va., Visit
    * Photos from the Queen’s 2007 Richmond, Va., Visit
    * Video from the Queen’s 1957 Jamestown Visit
    * Video from the Queen’s 2007 Jamestown Visit
    * Video from the Queen’s 2007 Richmond Visit
    * Photos from President Obama’s Inauguration
    * Audio of then-state senator Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and
    * Audio of President Obama 2009 Inauguration Address

    Is this guy completely full of himself or what?

  • deepertake

    Wasn’t this technically a violation of federal copyright law? MP3s ARE NOT TRANSFERRABLE (personal use only). The federal government broke it’s own (silly) copyright law, then escalated it to an international violation by transporting the MP3s across borders!
    My point isn’t that this is Obama’s fault. It actually shows the absurdity of the current copyright code for digital content. The fact that any normal citizen could have the government and the RIAA breathing down their necks for such a harmless, sharing, human action demonstrates how out of touch the system is.

  • http://www.famegame.com Sergio

    She requested this.

  • deepertake

    But still–I don’t see what all the fuss is about. These types of gifts to heads of state are mostly symbolic. Finally the U.S. has a dignified President–but some people just have to make something out of nothing.

  • fred edison

    I suppose he could have given her “The Best of 50 Cent’ tracks for her old iPod. Then again, we want to maintain good relations with her country.

  • Harvey

    British law would apply since that’s where the gift-giving took place. However, in Britain, the queen is sovereign, so the laws don’t apply. The giving and the receiving of the iPod was completely legal.