Is it true that at the reception of the English Queen Gagarin in violation of etiquette ate lemon?

After the flight to space, the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin went on a world tour. When he was in the UK, he was invited to the lunch to the queen, and at the reception he allegedly ate a slice of lemon from tea in violation of etiquette. And the queen, in order to save the situation, followed his example. We checked whether everything was really so.

This is what, for example, They told About this in the "Live Journal" of 2017:

“Having drunk a cup, Gagarin took out a lemon with a spoon and ate it. The environment was in shock. This act did not fit into the protocol. But the queen calmly took out her lemon and also ate. The whole yard did the same. The incident has become a precedent: now at the English court you can eat a lemon by taking it out of tea! ”

This is not the only version of the incident. IN friend Gagarin was going to eat lemon because he allegedly knew about the rules of etiquette - he ate fish, a lemon was attached to it, and in order to remove the smell from his mouth after it, it was necessary to eat a slice of lemon. The violation of etiquette was that he picked up the lemon not with a spoon, but with his fingers and therefore everyone around was horrified. And the queen, in order to save the position, also took a slice of lemon with her hands.

Actually, it was this version, apparently, that appeared for the first time on the Russian -speaking Internet. So, in 2002, to the question "What is Gagarinsky tea?" One of the users "Mail.ru answers" told The legend of fish:

“I must say that among the Soviet intelligentsia a false idea that lemon is served in order to squeeze its juice to Semogu before eating it. With such manners, I would not allow these intellectuals not only to take the English Queen, but also to the beer hall at the Kiev station. Naturally, Gagarin already knew the correct use of lemon! It turns out that lemon is necessary only in order to eliminate the smell of fish from the mouth after it eats. To do this, the slice of lemon is toned with a fork, neatly applied to the lips and a few drops of juice are pulled. And then the lemon is carelessly laid back on the plate. But, unfortunately, Gagarin was carried away by a secular conversation and instead of grabbing the lemon with a fork, he grabbed it with his fingers and sent it to his mouth. Oh horror! The bishop of Canterbury is numb, the Lord - the Keeper of the press dropped the fork in surprise ... Everyone froze and stared at Gagarin in bewilderment, as if he had burst into the tablecloth. And then the Queen Elizabeth herself, in order to save the situation, grabbed the lemon right with her hand and swallowed it like an oyster. A sigh of relief shone over the table. And at once all the Lords and ladies began to grab their lemons and, champing and frowning, began to chew them. ”

I must say that, apparently, the legend of Gagarin, who ate a piece of lemon under the queen, was oral in the Soviet Union: even earlier it can be found in magazine "New Youth" for 1996 - tea appears there. And the very formulation of the question on Mail.ru about tea suggests that, apparently, the legend had existed during the USSR.

In fact, no written sources of Gagarin’s biography of Gagarin confirm a single version of the lemon eaten by Queen. Gagarin was indeed an unofficial technique from the English Queen, it happened in 1961. This case is in biographies DescribedBut instead of lemon, completely different facts are mentioned there.

For example, the fact that Yuri Gagarin, who did not believe in what was happening, specially touched the queen with his hand to check if this actually happens. That's what I remembered About this Vladimir Lebedev is a psychologist who worked in the space program:

“Like a village guy, he knew about kings and queens only from fairy tales. Yura (the diminutive name of Gagarin) told me that he wanted to make sure that it was a real queen, that he touched her under the table, slightly above the knee. ”

Although this was definitely a violation of etiquette, the queen was not angry and, according to Lebedev, simply continued to drink her (by the way) coffee.

But about Limon was the story of the captain of Lieutenant Vetoshkin, one of the Russian sailors, who, after the Second World War, were invited to a appointment to the queen. This case, according to the recollections of witnesses, was described by Victor Konetsky in his book "Echo".

“Captain-Lieutenant Vetoshkin, having finished tea, climbed neatly with two fingers into the cup, took out a slice of lemon, buried the core, burned it, and put the crust, just as delicate, in a cup!”

According to Konetskoye, the Queen really supported the sailors and also ate her lemon.

Thus, we can conclude that at least some reliable sources about Yuri Gagarin, who ate lemon in the presence of the English queen, does not exist.

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. He ate Gagarin at the reception of the queen lemon from tea (or is it a bike). And if not he, then who
2. How Yuri Gagarin touched the queen