- Title: RUSSIA - QUEEN'S TOUR HAILED AS TRIUMPH
- Date: 20th October 1994
- Summary: ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (OCTOBER 20, 1994) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV BRITANNIA'S ROYAL MARINE BAND PLAYING ON THE DOCK BESIDE THE ROYAL YACHT 0.09 2. SV QUEEN ELIZABETH II AND RUSSIAN PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN WITH GUESTS ON BOARD BRITANNIA WATCHING 0.15 3. SLV BRITANNIA'S ROYAL MARINE BAND/SV QUEEN ET AL (2 SHOTS) 0.28 4. SV LOWERING OF FLAGS 0.40 5. SV/PAN QUEEN ESCORTING YELTSIN OFF BRITANNIA AFTER DINNER (2 SHOTS) 0.56 6. SV RUSSIAN SOLDIERS ALIGNED 1.04 7. HAS,PAN/HAS,SLV QUEEN AND YELTSIN ET AL STANDING FOR BRITISH NATIONAL ANTHEM/SV QUEEN/SV YELTSIN (4 SHOTS) 1.32 8. SV PANS QUEEN SAYING GOODBYE TO YELTSIN AND EMBARKING ON BRITTANNIA 1.44 9. GV/SV FIREWORK DISPLAY 2.08 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 4th November 1994 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
- City:
- Country: Russia
- Reuters ID: LVA49OFRWIX3I8B5R055XU6EHR28
- Story Text: Aides of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday (October 20)hailed her Russian tour as a triumph of new friendship over royal scandals at home.
Fireworks erupted over St Petersburg as her gleaming but costly yacht Britannia -- being axed to soothe anti-royal feelings back home -- slipped from its city centre berth on a freezing Thursday night and headed for a brief stop in Finland.
Russian President Boris Yeltsin bade her farewell after a lavish dinner on board of venison from her Scottish estate, Balmoral.
He joined the queen on deck and watched the Britannia's Royal Marine band beating the retreat, which included a rendition of the Russian national anthem.
Yeltsin said he was honoured by the queen's decision to come to Russia, saying it was the ultimate Western blessing for his reforms and the break with a totalitarian Soviet past.
For the queen it was also a chance to show her family had at last put aside its hostility to Russia since the murder of the last tsar Nicholas in 1918 after the Bolshevik revolution. He was a cousin of Elizabeth's grandfather.
Ironically, the Britannia had moored on the spot where the battleship Avrora fired the first shot of the revolution in 1917 and gave the communists the signal to storm the imperial Winter Palace beside the Neva river.
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