Sir Mervyn King, the former governor of the Bank of England had received several gifts totalling about £13,000 as retirement presents when he retired on July 1.

Sir Mervyn, who now had been honoured as Lord King, received a £10,000 painting of himself as a leaving present. He was also presented with a £597 silver napkin ring and a £2505 sculpture of German playwright and scientist Johann von Goethe as other retirement presents. The Bank of England has said that the napkin ring and portrait were traditional gifts to the governors.

Data showed that the gifts were paid by the Bank of England, the central bank of the UK. There were events in his honour that together cost around £10,000. The events included evening reception on June 26 cost £4672 and a dinner held on the following day cost £3450. A separate dinner costing £3800 to the tax payers was held on June 2. The total cost of flowers and invitations for the three events came up to about £1,501.

Sir Mervyn will draw a pension of £198,200 a year.