Queen Elizabeth II last week became the first reigning British monarch ever to visit Russia, but she could not escape scandals back home. A diary of her trip:
Sunday. The Prince of Wales upstages his mum on the eve of her departure. Charles's authorized biography says he never really loved Diana and portrays her as bored, bitchy and bulimic. Public response in Britain: He's a cad.
Monday. Hundreds of Russians wait in the cold for a glimpse of the royal couple entering Moscow's Bolshoi Theater. Balletgoers cheer as Boris Yeltsin and the queen appear in the gilded box once reserved for her kin, Czar Nicholas II. But Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin is nowhere in sight. He wouldn't interrupt his vacation on the Black Sea. Public response in Russia: He's a cad, too.
Tuesday. Crowds envelop the queen's route. The state opera theater's wardrobe department scrambles to fit Russian VIPs for the Kremlin's first black-tie banquet.
Wednesday. The queen flies to St. Petersburg and steps into her Rolls-Royce. The imperial city is agog. A poll finds 46 percent of Russians want to restore their own monarchy. But Russian newspapers ignore the presence in Moscow of Texas businessman John Bryan, who was once photographed sucking the toe of the queen's topless daughter-in-law.
Thursday. Elizabeth visits tombs of her Romanov relatives. At the queen's farewell banquet aboard the royal yacht Britannia, Yeltsin doesn't have much of an appetite. "British Food? Nyet!" says the Daily Mail.
