When the former President Barack Obama first visited Queen Elizabeth back in 2009, he reportedly gave the monarch a present that was most unfortunate, according to newly-surfaced reports.

While visiting the Queen at Buckingham Palace with his wife Michelle, Obama gave her an iPod filled with photos from his inauguration and clips of his speeches. A top etiquette expert told The Express that the gift was cringeworthy, and that it showed that Obama had not yet figured out the art of presidential gift-giving.

“For me, the iPod only works if he has some catchy reason why he gave it as a gift,” expert Anna Post of the Emily Post Institute said at the time. “Otherwise it feels like somebody at the White House pulled the lever and an iPod is what popped up. And if it was just pulled out of the blue, you run the risk of the ‘Oh, how nice,’ reaction from people which is the polite gloss of, ‘What on earth am I going to do with this?’”

Nevertheless, the Queen still ended up being quite fond of Obama.

“The Queen has a soft spot for Americans after meeting Barack Obama who she completely fell in love with – so much so that she has frequently asked her courtiers if they could arrange for him to come to Britain now he is no longer President,” said royal biographer Tom Quinn.

Obama also managed to recover during that visit by giving the Queen a rare songbook signed by Richard Rodgers, as the monarch is a huge fan of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical “Oklahoma!” Post said that this gift was “the height of thoughtfulness” and a great recovery for the then-president.

When visiting the Queen once again in 2016, Obama had nothing but praise for her.

“She is truly one of my favourite people,” he said at the time. “I confess I’ve also come back to wish Her Majesty the Queen a happy 90th birthday.”

The Queen’s late husband Prince Philip, who tragically died earlier this year, even drove the Obamas from their helicopter to Windsor Castle.

“I have to say I have never been driven by a Duke of Edinburgh before and I can report that it was very smooth riding,” Obama added.