Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip travelled on a royal tour to Russia in 1994. The Russian President at the time was Boris Yeltsin and he attended a dinner onboard the Royal Yacht Britannia with the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh. It was on this occasion in St Petersburg that the Queen made a surprising break from tradition. Author Robert Hardman described the episode in his book Queen of the World.
“Britannia was about to provide the climax to the visit,” wrote Hardman.
“As night fell on the newly renamed English Embankment, president Yeltsin, his senior ministers and the speakers of both houses of parliament came aboard for a very convivial evening.”
The night was to see Queen Elizabeth make the sort of speech she would never normally make – and it very much amused Prince Philip.
“Though it has always been the convention that there are no speeches at return banquets, the Queen decided to make a rare exception (as would happen with Nelson Mandela two years later).
“She had clearly talked it through with the Duke of Edinburgh.
“‘I could see Prince Philip looking at her very amused, holding his chin and with a twinkle in his eye,’ says Delmar Fall [the ambassador’s wife].
“‘And she called for a gavel and she went ‘tap,’ tap,’ ‘tap’ – and she got up and she made a little speech. No notes!’”
Another dinner during the Russia royal tour gave an interesting insight into the Queen and Philip’s marriage -and again it came with a break from tradition.
“For the Queen’s lunch at the British Embassy, [Fall] decided to set aside protocol and avoid seating everyone according to their embassy rank.
“Instead she sat the Queen next to the embassy doctor, Hugh Carpenter, a popular character among Moscow’s British community.
“‘He was certainly not someone to be intimidated by who he was sitting next to,’ she recalls.
“‘I remember his wife sitting across the room making hand gestures as if to say: ‘Stop talking so much.’
“‘The Queen was very amused and said: ‘I must try that on Philip some time.’ She certainly enjoyed it.’
Her Majesty has been known to speak out at Philip in public, however. The pair visited the USA in July 1976 and American writer Susan Crossland accompanied the tour and observed how the royal couple behaved with one another.
She noted on one occasion that the Queen did not attempt to hide her frustration with her husband.
Royal author Sarah Bradford quoted the writer in her 2012 book Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Our Times.
“On one occasion when Philip was sounding off about something, the Queen said to him quite sharply, ‘Oh Philip, do shut up. You don’t know what you’re talking about,’” Crossland said.
