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| Gifts for Charles fascinate UK |
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Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Rauf Klasra
LONDON: Unusual gifts presented to Prince Charles and Duchess of Cornwall by commoners during their recent visit to Pakistan have generated a lot of interest in the UK and their details are being discussed here.
The prince had to return an unusual gift of a yak back after finding it difficult to first transport it to his own farm in the UK and then taking care of it. The prince was given a huge and hairy black and white yak, weighing more than 300lbs, in a small village of Altit in the Hunza Valley. He patted its nose enthusiastically, though the duchess needed a little more encouragement to follow suit.
The gift of a yak is the highest honour that can be bestowed on a VIP in Hunza traditions that date back to many centuries. "Marvellous", declared the prince. "Is it a male yak?" It was hard to tell with all that hair, even for a cattle farmer such as the prince.
Before he could start wondering how it would fit in alongside his prize Ayreshires at Home Farm in Gloucestershire, the Mir of Hunza, the last vestige of the region's royalty, explained that tradition dictated the VIP immediately return the gift to the village.
He promptly did so, to polite applause from the 4,000 residents of the village, built round a 900-year-old fort 8,000ft high in the Karakoram Range. Across the Indus river in the Himalayas, the duchess received an infinitely more portable present. And she certainly made clear she had no intention of returning it.
Villagers at Nansoq, Pakistan's first organic village, spent three days spinning, weaving, dyeing and embroidering a "Nating", a cap traditionally worn by a bride at her wedding in Baltistan region known as "Little Tibet".
She immediately put it on. And when an aide moved in to offer to carry it -- as they usually do in these circumstances -- she replied: "No, I'm keeping it with me". In Altit, where the entire population is Ismaili, there seemed to be more excitement about Prince Karim Aga Khan's visit than that of Prince Charles.
The villagers risked their lives climbing hundreds of feet up sheer rock face to spell out welcome messages in white stones which read: "Welcome the royal couple" and for the Aga Khan: "Come our H Imam and royal guests." It had been six years since the Aga Khan visited, and they were pleased to see him judging from the applause.
A media report said for the prince and the duchess, it was a picturesque setting to end a tour which, although beset with some problems, has taken in a variety of Pakistan's landscape, from Islamabad and Lahore, through to Kashmir and then the wilds of Baltistan.
This was the couple's first visit to the Islamic republic. Asked for his reaction, the prince said: "It is wonderful, particularly this part of the world. To get to this part is very special. I'm thrilled," His wife, agreed: "I've had a wonderful time."
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ISSN 1563-9479 
