PHOTO: Russia’s Ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin
at the monument to Nicholas II on the Isle of Wight

On 4th November 2025 – on the occasion of National Unity Day – Russia’s Ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin laid flowers at the monument to Nicholas II and his family on the Isle of Wight.

The granite monument with bronze relief portraits of the Imperial Family, was unveiled on 7th July 2018, by the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Romanov Society. The monumetn stands in Jubilee Green in East Cowes, close to Queen Victoria’s residence, Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, which is situated just off the southern coast of England.

The monument marking the 100th anniversary of the death and martyrdom of Emperor Nicholas II and his family was created by the renowned Moscow sculptor Elena Bezborodova. At its base there is a capsule with soil from the site, where the Imperial Family’s remains were found near Ekaterinburg.

“The Isle of Wight has a special connection with Russian history: Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and her sister Elizabeth Feodorovna spent time here as children with their grandmother, Queen Victoria. Nicholas II first visited the island in 1884 and visited it again in 1909, staying at the Barton estate,” said the Russian ambassador.

National Unity Day has been celebrated in Russia annually, on 4th November since 2005. The holiday commemorates the popular uprising which ended the Polish-Lithuanian occupation of Moscow in November 1612, and more generally the end of the Time of Troubles and turning point of the Polish intervention in Russia.

FURTHER READING:

Britain’s first memorial to the Russian Imperial Family + PHOTOS

© Paul Gilbert. 5 November 2025