Myanmar has delivered presents from Britain’s ​King Charles to Aung San Suu Kyi , releasing rare photos of the imprisoned former leader in what critics said was a stunt by the country’s military to end diplomatic isolation.

A presidential spokesperson said on social media that home ministry officials handed over two gardening books on soil, “along with one sealed envelope and a sealed diplomatic pouch”, from King Charles, who is known to have an interest in planting and the environment.

Photos showed the Nobel Peace laureate smiling in a wood-panelled room, a paper calendar on the wall behind her.

Suu Kyi, 81, the daughter of the assassinated national independence hero Gen Aung San, has spent much of her life in and out of house arrest for leading pro-democracy movements.…