S African Indian to gift tambuti table to William, Middleton

This is not the first gift by 69-year-old Kuber Eadhev Singh for the British royalty, three decades back, he made a jewellery box from the same wood to gift to Prince Charles and Diana as their wedding gift.

Now, he wants to repeat the feat for the couple's son Prince William and Kate Middleton as they walk down the aisle after taking their wedding vows in the historic Westminster Abbey on April 29.

Although William and Kate have asked people not to send gifts, but rather make a donation to a special charity fund, Singh said he was not going to change a long-established family tradition.

"Our family relationship with the British royal family goes back to 1972, when my late father made a desk for Princess Anne as a wedding gift," Singh said.

"I started work on this table as soon as the wedding date was announced it took two months to complete," he said.

It's not only the royalty that Singhs are enamoured of, they have also made unique gifts other celebrities including several US heads of state and former South African presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki.

The tambuti wood is a protected species, but Singh has permission to use a stock he inherited from his father for the special gifts he painstakingly crafts using self-taught skills handed down over generations.