PHOTO: Queen Elizabeth II being warmly greeted by Muscovites,
during her visit to Moscow in October 1994

On 17th October 1994, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh arrived in Moscow, marking the first and so far only visit by a reigning British monarch on Russian soil.

The only previous visit by a British monarch to Russia was made by King Edward VII in 1908. The King never stepped ashore, and met Nicholas II on royal yachts off the Baltic port of what is now Tallinn, Estonia

Queen Elizabeth II’s four-day visit to Russia, from 17th to 20th October 1994, hosted by the President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007), is considered one of the most important foreign trips of the Queen’s 70-yeaar reign.

PHOTO: Emperor Nicholas II and Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia are related through their shared ancestry. Her Majesty is a first cousin twice removed to Nicholas II. This connection is a result of their marriages to each other’s relatives, with Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, the future Empress Alexandra Fedorovna, Nicholas II’s wife, being the granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

The brutal murders of Emperor Nicholas II and his family in 1918, prevented royal trips from being made to Russia and the former Soviet Union. In 1967, when Prince Philip was asked if he would go to Moscow to help ease Cold War tensions, he said:

“I’d very much like to go to Russia – although the bastards murdered half my family”.

In September 1973, Prince Philip attended the European Eventing Championships in Kiev as president of the International Equestrian Federation with his daughter, Princess Anne. They became the first British royal family members to visit the Soviet Union since Nicholas II’s murder.

PHOTO: Boris Yeltsin and Queen Elizabeth II touring the Kremlin Museums in Moscow

In 1989, Mikhail Gorbachev made an official visit to the United Kingdom in which he met Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen and Gorbachev met again in July 1991 at the 17th G7 summit in London. Despite this the Queen declined an invitation by Gorbachev to visit the Soviet Union. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Prince Charles visited St Petersburg in May 1994 and the Queen accepted an invitation by President Boris Yeltsin to visit the country in October 1994.

During her visit to Russia, Russian media focused on the Queen and her popularity in the United Kingdom with newspaper and television coverage of the visit continuing for several days. It was during and after her visit, that the subject of restoring the monarchy in Russia was openly discussed, Some polls showing 18% of Russians favoured a return to monarchy. In a similar poll, taken in 2019, more than 27% of Russians support the restoration of the monarchy. Following the visit, a Russian monarchist party announced that it had amassed 800,000 signatures in support of a referendum on whether a constitutional monarchy should be established in Russia.

Prince Philip said monarchy had thrived in Britain due to it being apolitical while the Tsar “was, by constitution, the autocrat.” Philip was not convinced that people in Russia would want to return to monarchy, despite the presence of monarchist parties.

It is interesting to note, that in 1998, President Boris Yeltsin had considered restoring the monarchy in Russia, but was later dissuaded from the idea.

FURTHER READING: Russia after Putin – would he restore the monarchy?

In the photo above, President Boris Yeltsin makes the official presentation of a copy of The Romanovs, Love, Power & Tragedy to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in Moscow.

PHOTO: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip arrive at
Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow on 17th October 1994

EVENTS

Queen Elizabeth II was greeted at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow by First Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets and a guard of honour. Yeltsin and his wife, Naina, formally welcomed the royal couple at St. George’s Hall in the Grand Kremlin Palace, in Moscow. The royal couple stayed in the Grand Kremlin Palace – the former Moscow residence of Emperor Nicholas II – as Yeltsin’s guests. The Queen attended a performance of Giselle at the Bolshoi Ballet, sitting in the Tsar’s Box underneath the State Emblem of the Soviet Union [this has since been replaced by the Russian Double-Headed Eagle]. Her Majesty 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.

PHOTO: Queen Elizabeth II and President Boris Yeltsin in
the Tsar’s Box at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow

The following day, the Queen toured the Kremlin Museums and Red Square and laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin Wall commemorating World War II casualties. Elizabeth II met the mayor of Moscow Yury Luzhkov (1936-2019) outside of St Basil’s Cathedral and she also met His Holiness Patriarch Alexi II (1929-2008), the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

PHOTO: Patriarch Alexei II and Queen Elizabeth II. Moscow, 18th October 1994

Later that everning, the royal couple attended a state banquet hosted by President Boris Yeltsin. 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“.

Boris Yeltsin said the visit was to Russia was the “utmost recognition that our country is on the road to democracy” and his chief spokesman Vyacheslav Kostikov said the Queen’s visit was evidence of Russia’s break with its totalitarian past. Kostikov added they were aware that the British queen would never have visited a Communist country. 

The Queen flew to St Petersburg on 19th October, where she visited the Peter and Paul Fortress and the State Hermitage Museum.

PHOTO: Queen Elizabeth II admires the gilded Coronation carriage of Empress Catherine the Great in the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, departed Russia aboard the royal yacht, HMY Britannia on 20th October 1994.^[11] Before returning to the United Kingdom, she made an official visit to Finland.

PHOTO: the royal yacht, HMY Britannia, docked
on the Neva in St Petersburg

In her 1994 Christmas Message, the Queen reflected on how times had changed, noting she “never thought it would be possible in [her] lifetime” to attend a service in St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow Prince Philip made a solo visit to Russia in July 1995 as president of the World Wildlife Fund. In 2003, the Queen hosted President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to the United Kingdom and in 2014 they both met again during an event commemorating D-Day in France.

© Paul Gilbert. 17 October 2025