State visit by Elizabeth II to Russia
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd made a state visit to Russia from 17 to 20 October 1994, hosted by the President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin. It is the first and so far only visit by a reigning British monarch on Russian soil.[a]
Date
The four-day visit is said to be one of the most important foreign trips of the Queen's reign.[3]
Events[edit]
Elizabeth II was greeted at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow by First Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets and a guard of honour.[10][7] Yeltsin and his wife, Naina, formally welcomed the royal couple at St. George's Hall in the Grand Kremlin Palace.[10] They stayed in the Kremlin as Yeltsin's guests.[10] The Queen attended a performance of Giselle at the Bolshoi Ballet, sitting in the "czar's box" underneath the State Emblem of the Soviet Union.[10] She wore a tiara she had acquired herself instead of one of her tiaras she had acquired elsewhere such as the Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara to not cause offence.[12]
The next day, the Queen toured the Kremlin and Red Square and visited an English-language school before attending a state banquet hosted by President Boris Yeltsin.[11] At the banquet, the Queen addressed Yeltsin and said, "You and I have spent most of our lives believing that this evening could never happen. I hope that you are as delighted as I am to be proved wrong".[13] She laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin Wall commemorating World War II casualties.[7] Elizabeth II met the mayor of Moscow Yury Luzhkov outside of Saint Basil's Cathedral and she also met Patriarch Alexy II, the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.[14][7]
The Queen flew to Saint Petersburg on 19 October, where she visited Peter and Paul Fortress, went to a Catholic church and met local orphan children.[11][7] Elizabeth II departed Russia aboard the royal yacht, HMY Britannia on 20 October 1994.[11] Before returning to the United Kingdom, she made an official visit to Finland.[12]