What was an English princess doing in Soviet Buryatia? (PHOTOS)
Princess Anne visited Russia more often than any other member of the British royal family. But her most intriguing trip came in 1990, when she managed to visit remote Buryat villages, Lake Baikal, and even chat with cosmonauts in orbit.
On May 24, 1990, Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, arrived in Moscow for a two-week visit at the invitation of Mikhail Gorbachev.
The trip was viewed as a possible "dress rehearsal" for a future visit to the Soviet Union by the Queen herself. As reported in the Soviet press, the visit of a royal family member would give an important impetus to the development of understanding between the two nations.
This was Princess Anne's second visit to the USSR. Her first was in 1973, as a member of the British equestrian team.
This time, the 40-year-old had a packed cultural itinerary. An official at the British Embassy said: "She is a very serious lady. She is not just interested in tourism for tourism's sake. She wants to see the country."
Anne spent three days in Moscow, where she met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, visited the Kremlin, the Bolshoi Theatre and Moscow State University, as well as the Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra in the Moscow region. She also visited the Mission Control Center and was able to speak with cosmonauts in orbit.
She then travelled to Lake Baikal: she took a ride on the research vessel "Vereshchagin" and presented scientists at the Limnological Institute with a spectrophotometer.
In Irkutsk, the princess visited the Regional Museum and also met with local scientists and doctors.
Her next stop was Ulan-Ude and the Buryat villages of Arbishil and Erkhirik.
Anne familiarized herself with Buryat culture and visited the famous Ivolginsky Datsan.
From there, she went to Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, and on June 1 she was in Volgograd, where she visited Mamayev Kurgan.
Her extensive tour ended in Kiev, where she opened an exhibition dedicated to British industry.
After the collapse of the USSR, the princess visited Russia several more times, with her most recent trip taking place in 2016.
