Bayeux Tapestry

There’s a certain charismatic brio about Macron as this masterful loan of needle work demonstrates….

Ever since the Norman era, the fine art of the meaningful gift has been at the heart of statecraft. 

Historically, they have ranged from a menagerie of exotic animals to fabulous jewels, but Emmanuel Macron – by first offering the Chinese a horse called Vesuvius, and now offering the British the loan of the Bayeux tapestry – has revealed himself this month as the modern master of the diplomatic gesture.

Most contemporary diplomatic gifts reveal more vulgarity than thought. Saudi Arabia’s King Salman gave the former US president Barack Obama a silver-toned letter opener and pen priced at $56,729 (£41,000), while the president of Argentina brought the first family a black electric bicycle worth $1,499 and two signed Lionel Messi shirts worth $1,700. 

Other modern diplomatic gifts have come cheaper; in 2009, the then US secretary of state, Hilary Clinton, presented the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, with a large red “reset button” to represent a reboot in relations – except that the Russian word emblazoned on the button did not translate as “reset” but “overcharge”. 

Others are just best forgotten: Gordon Brown went home with a DVD box set hastily bought from the local store by Obama’s novice aides.