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At first look, the new wire photos of Queen Elizabeth were ordinary: just some shots of Her Majesty smiling, shaking hands with a dignitary. But snuck away in the corner was something unordinary. Unusual. An Easter egg. Something that for decades was known to exist but could never be confirmed. Something that once caused a minor political scandal between two of the most powerful countries on earth. An iPod. A shiny silver iPod.
When Queen Elizabeth does anything—anything!—it’s news. When she rides a train! When she drives! When a pony tries to eat her flowers! (To be fair, that pony’s name is Cruachan IV, and he is damn sassy.) In 2005, the story du jour was that Queen Elizabeth, the crowning symbol of Old Guard England, bought an iPod. And allegedly not just any iPod, but a silver iPod mini. “Queen Joins iPod People,” the New York Post blared.
Yet, although various outlets were reporting it, there wasn’t much hard evidence, beyond anonymous sources, that she really had one. Or any evidence at all—Vogue combed through more than 25,000 images of the Queen from 2005 to 2017 and couldn’t find a single one that showed her with the gadget (iPad, yes; iPod, no). “It has been well known in royal circles for years that she has an iPod, but I don’t think anyone has seen it before,” Claudia Joseph, author of How to Dress Like a Princess: The Secrets of Kate’s Wardrobe, told Vogue. The iPod remained a fun, frivolous, maybe-sort-of fact.
Until, in 2009, it was maybe-no-more. That was the year President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama visited Queen Elizabeth.
As is custom, both parties gave each other a gift. The Queen usually gives a framed picture of herself, while diplomats and dignitaries give something thoughtful, some special nod to their relationship. For example, Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia brought a reproduction of a medieval book that belonged to King Phillip II, who in the 16th century married England’s Queen Mary, symbolizing their family’s history.
The Obamas gave her an . . . iPod.
Now, they also gave her a rare signed Richard Rodgers songbook for The King and I. And the iPod wasn’t just any iPod; it was loaded with songs and footage from her 2007 trip to the U.S. But it didn’t matter. The president was fresh off another British gift gaffe with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, after Brown gave him a penholder carved from the wood of an anti-slave ship, and in return, Obama gave him DVD box sets. That didn’t go over well with the British tabloids, which raged it was disrespectful.
So some of them jumped on him this time, too. One of their main grievances? The Queen already had an iPod. It even made the opener of Anderson Cooper 360: “Mr. and Mrs. Obama meeting the Queen, bringing her a gift, an iPod; turns out she’s already got one. We’ll cover all of that tonight.”
The legitimacy of the iPod went from a fun question to a borderline serious one. Those reports, in 2005, were they true? Did she actually have an iPod? If she did, did it even, like, still work? Were the Obamas really negligent in researching her gift, and, worst of all, were they rude?
Eventually, the scuffle blew over, as these things tend to do, destined to live in the stupid-scandal graveyard alongside Hillary Clinton’s “cold shoulder” dress and the Bushes’ Scottish terrier biting a reporter. But eight years later, a photo confirmed the question that had been plaguing well, er, mildly bugging, the world: The iPod exists! But wait—which one is it?
Vogue could not officially confirm what type of iPod it is—but it looks like the iPod classic. The click wheel and the coloring match that make and model, and, to the naked eye, the dimensions look too large to be a mini. The classic first hit the market in 2007, and 120 GB and 160 GB variations were introduced in 2008 and 2009, respectively. So, yes, the iPod in the picture may indeed be the one President Obama gave her.
It never really mattered—especially now, as both countries are mired in political turmoil. But it did provide some closure, some comic relief. And some nostalgia: for a less serious time when silly stories still made the papers.
Now for the fun part: What do we think Queen Elizabeth does with her music player?
Ingrid Seward, author of the upcoming book, My Husband & I, about Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s marriage, told Vogue: “The Queen is a big fan of musicals, traditional hymns, and Scottish ballads, and even the Beach Boys’s songs, especially ‘California Girls.’ She also likes Elton John and all kinds of military music. She plays the piano herself and has a pitch-perfect singing voice. Whether or not she has much time to listen to music on her iPod I am not sure, but I rather doubt it. If she doesn’t understand anything or it goes wrong, there are plenty of young footmen around who are pretty savvy with technology.”
Queen Elizabeth jamming out to “California Girls”? Now that’s a visual we can get behind.