Majestatea Sa va Mananca Pie Jubileu sau Dă delicatetea Fisheye Royal?

Will Her Majesty Eat the Jubilee Pie or Give the Delicacy the Royal Fisheye?

GLOUCESTER, England—In her six-decade reign, Queen Elizabeth II has been given lavish gifts that include rubies, a shark-tooth sword and a diamond and platinum brooch.

But for this weekend's celebration of the queen's 60 years on the throne, she will receive one gift she may not have dreamed of as a princess: a pie for two made of a slimy, parasitic eel-like fish known for sucking the blood out of its prey.

The pie comes from Gloucester, a small city about 100 miles northwest of London. In a tradition dating to the Middle Ages, the city sent lamprey pies—which it considered a delicacy—to the monarch every Christmas and when kings or queens ascend to the throne. The lampreys usually come from the River Severn, a narrow, muddy waterway that passes through town.

Nowadays, the fish is considered a pest. But the tradition in Gloucester lives on, at least for special occasions. Gloucester last baked a lamprey pie for the queen in 2002, when she celebrated 50 years on the throne. This year's edition has been getting a lot of attention here thanks to a shocking revelation: The lampreys were imported from the Great Lakes region on the U.S.-Canada border, where they are plentiful, because Gloucester's lamprey population has dwindled.

David Hale, Gloucester city council's commercial catering manager, who says he is "head chef," said it would be his first time baking for the queen and Prince Philip and that he is feeling the pressure. "We want to make sure the finished product is just perfect," he said.

Cities across the United Kingdom have a history of sending gifts to celebrate special events in the monarchy, such as jubilees and coronations. And for this jubilee in particular, which kicks off Saturday, the British are going all out. The queen, who turned 86 in April, will become only the second British monarch ever to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee. The last such celebration was for Queen Victoria in 1897.

On Sunday, up to 1,000 boats will cruise down the Thames, with the queen and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, traveling on a royal barge. Buckingham Palace encourages neighbors and friends to gather for picnic lunches or parties on the street. Some local authorities are handing out party packs with British flags and table mats for kicking off celebrations.

The festivities will continue into Monday and Tuesday, when there are public holidays in the U.K. There is to be a concert at Buckingham Palace that is open to the public Monday night and a service at St. Paul's Cathedral on Tuesday. The queen will end the long weekend of celebrations later Tuesday with an appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with the royal family.

Not every town has Gloucester's unique vision when it comes to royal gifts. The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead has already presented Her Majesty with a fountain pen in honor of her 60 years as queen. In Leicester, a city north of London, the city council presented Her Majesty with a photo album featuring pictures of past royal visits to the town.

Choosing a gift for the woman who heads the U.K.'s constitutional monarchy can't be easy. In 2009, President Barack Obama gave the queen an iPod, whereupon British papers reported she already had a six-gigabyte silver mini. Brazil has given her sloths and Germany a canary—both of which went straight to the zoo. And in 2010, South African President Jacob Zuma gave the queen a chess set with Zulu and Xhosa warriors, only to find that she had received a similar set from Nelson Mandela in 1996.

Buckingham Palace gives guidelines on how the queen can retain or dispose of official gifts. She can place them on permanent loan, send them to the Royal Collection or use them herself. Under no circumstances, however, can gifts be exchanged—so as to "avoid causing offense to donors," the royal house says on its website.

Regardless of whether the queen will actually eat the lamprey pie, the chefs of Gloucester have done trial runs of the pastry. The pie will take the shape of the city's cathedral, built more than 900 years ago.

Mr. Hale, the chef, said he and his co-chef have been debating whether the queen would prefer lamprey baked in white wine and caramelized onions or in onions and mace.

No matter how the fish is prepared, some of the townspeople said there is no way they themselves would eat lamprey, distinctive for the single nostril on the top of its head. Legend has it that in 1135, King Henry I, an aficionado of the delicacy, died after eating a surfeit of lampreys.

"They're probably the most ugly thing you could come across," said John Powell, secretary of the local fishing association, and hearing about what happened to King Henry "is enough to put anyone off them."

The town crier for 25 years, Alan Myatt, disagrees.

"In my time as crier, this is the second lamprey pie I've been associated with," he said. "I've tasted something very similar to lamprey, and they are very nice. It's fit for a king or queen."

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As town crier, Mr. Myatt stands in the center of town once a week, wearing a three-cornered hat and red tunic as he shouts to the town about local events and sales the stores are having. He said baking the lamprey pie is ingrained in the city's tradition and culture. He added that the town would jump at any excuse to celebrate.

"Whether the monarch actually eats the lamprey pie is a different kettle of fish," he said.

The sourcing of the fish from the Great Lakes has attracted attention from the local press. But Paul James, the leader of the city council, reveals the town's dirty little secret: It had to use imported lamprey for the last pie, in 2002, too.

"It's all about helping to put Gloucester on the map," said Mr. James. "In the past, we've been guilty of not making history, so this will get us known for the right reasons."