The ousted Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad kept a signed picture of Queen Elizabeth II inside a room in his presidential palace stuffed with hoards of prized possessions and diplomatic gifts.

Pictures show rebel fighters picking through the treasure room, with its shelves stacked high with gold-encrusted chests, paintings, pottery and souvenirs in the now-ransacked New Shaab Palace (People’s Palace) in Damascus.

Elsewhere in the cluttered room was a rug depicting Assad’s own face, a gold Fifa award from Syria’s participation in 2005 and what appears to be a silver shield.