Vladimir Putin’s State Visit to Britain (2003)

In June 2003, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a State Visit to Britain. As Head of State, Queen Elizabeth II was deployed in her role as Britain’s most senior diplomat. Along with her husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and her son, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, the Queen received Putin and his wife, Lyudmila Putina, at Buckingham Palace. The Russian President was late for the occasion by 14 minutes, an incident which, according to former Home Secretary David Blunkett, led the Queen to break protocol by making a comment about Russia’s president. When Blunkett’s guide dog barked upon seeing Putin, the Home Secretary apologised to the Queen for the noise. “Dogs have interesting instincts, don’t they?“ the monarch replied. Occurring roughly 12 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union and 11 years before Russia’s invasion of Crimea, this footage of Putin’s visit to Britain reflects a unique moment in world history – when the West was keen to bring a revived