How the Queen of England violated the rules of etiquette for the sake of a Soviet officer

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

This story took place 66 years ago, in the summer of 1953, during the coronation of Elizabeth of Windsor. The first person with whom the British queen danced when she ascended the throne was Soviet Rear Admiral Olimpiy Rudakov. And subsequently, throughout the ceremony, she devoted much more time to the Russian officer than was provided for by the rules of etiquette, and her sister, Princess Margaret, showed him special signs of attention. For what the sailor was awarded such an honor, and why a few years before that he was sentenced to death - further in the review.

The fate of this man was more than extraordinary. After graduating from the Higher Naval School, he served in the Northern Fleet. When Olimpiy Rudakov was a cadet, the famous sculptor Matvey Manizer invited him to pose for his new work - a sculpture of a sailor that adorned the Moscow metro station "Revolution Square". Then no one could have imagined that in the future an unknown cadet would go down in history not only thanks to this fact of his biography.

Rudakov met the war as an assistant commander of the destroyer "Crushing". In the fall of 1942, the ship fell into a severe storm, during which the stern part of the hull was blown off by waves, 30 crew members were killed. Despite the fact that the cause of the crash was flaws in the design of the destroyer, all the blame for what happened was placed on the ship's crew. In addition, the captain and his mate violated the charter by being in the lifeboats before the sailors. The son of Olympia, Yuri Rudakov, later said: "". As a result, the destroyer commander and his assistant were sentenced by the Northern Fleet tribunal to capital punishment - execution. At the last moment, this sentence to Rudakov was changed to 10 years in the camps - most likely thanks to the intervention of Vice Admiral Golovko, who personally knew Rudakov.

In the spring of 1943, Olimpiy Rudakov was transferred from a forced labor camp to a penal battalion. Within a few months, his conviction was removed from him as from “redeeming his guilt with blood,” and later he was reinstated in his officer rank. In the winter of 1944, Rudakov was able to return to the Northern Fleet, first as an assistant to the commander of the destroyer Gromkiy, and then as the commander of the cruiser Murmansk.

However, all over the world Rudakov was recognized thanks to … the waltz! In 1953, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain took place. In honor of this event, a large naval parade was staged. The Soviet Union delegated the cruiser Sverdlov to this solemn event under the command of Captain First Rank Olimpiy Rudakov. However, the Soviet delegation almost missed the ceremony - on the way, the ship was caught by a strong storm, because of which the Sverdov did not have time for the start of the celebration, while at the port at the naval parade, the Soviet cruiser was already waiting for 250 British and 22 foreign ships … At the last moment, the ship appeared on the horizon.

An eyewitness to the events, Admiral Hutchinson, described this moment as follows: "". It took more than an hour to dock, but the Soviet ship anchored in just 12 minutes! At the same time, the buoy, which marked the place of the ship's mooring, was pulled under the water by a strong current, but Rudakov managed to moor in the place reserved for the cruiser. The masterly control of a huge ship delighted the British gathered on the embankment, who began to throw bouquets of flowers into the water. Later, the queen on her own yacht bypassed all the ships that arrived for the coronation. The cruiser "Sverdlov" greeted her with three salvos of her guns instead of the prescribed one.

During the coronation ceremony, the Soviet delegation was again in the spotlight. Awarding commemorative medals to foreign guests, Elizabeth passed by the American and French admirals, the first to bestow this honor on the Soviet captain. She broke all the rules of etiquette at this celebration more than once, devoting too much time and attention to Olympia Rudakov. The organizers of the ceremony were perplexed by the fact that the queen held her gaze on the captain for an unacceptably long time. As a gift from the leadership of the USSR, the officer presented the queen with an ermine mantle, and in return she gave him her first dance after the coronation, during which the couple talked animatedly. This waltz was later written about in all the newspapers.

However, during the celebrations, Queen Elizabeth was not the only high-ranking person who was conquered by a Soviet officer. He spent the rest of the evening in the company of her sister, Princess Margaret. In violation of all the rules of etiquette, after the dance, she invited Rudakov to her office for a personal audience. What they were talking about then - history is silent, the captain never spoke about the details of his visit to Great Britain.

Upon his return to the USSR, Olimpiy Rudakov received the title of Rear Admiral and a commemorative sign "For the campaign to England." Later he was offered the post of naval attaché at the Soviet embassy in Great Britain, but the appointment never took place. Rudakov's son explained it this way: "".

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