Nov 25, 2008, 10:35 GMT
Britain's Queen Elizabeth has had her teapot confiscated by the secret service amid fears it could contain a listening device hidden by Russian spies.
The monarch - who received the ornate samovar, a metal container used to heat water in Russia, as a gift nearly 20 years ago - was warned the gift could have been used by spies intending to overhear her conversations with prime ministers and world leaders, as well as more intimate conversations with family and friends.
Servants at Balmoral Castle, Queen Elizabeth's Scottish residence, had been warned never to test the samovar to see if it worked because the wiring looked so dangerous.
A source told Britain's The Daily Express newspaper: "The samovar was always a bit of an enigma. No one could work out what the Russians thought we were going to do with it. The wiring looked as if it came from a World War II tank and it was not exactly pretty.
"No-one ever considered it a security risk until a recent sweep by the secret service with their electronic devices. They swept everywhere imaginable, public and private rooms, and the first thing to go was the samovar."
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