Is it true that at a reception with the Queen of England, Gagarin ate a lemon in violation of etiquette?

After flying into space, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin went on a world tour. When he was in Great Britain, he was invited to lunch with the Queen, and at the reception he allegedly ate a slice of lemon from his tea in violation of etiquette. And the queen, to save the situation, followed his example. We checked whether everything was really like that.

Here's what, for example: told about this in LiveJournal in 2017:

“After drinking a cup, Gagarin took out a lemon with a spoon and ate it. The surroundings were in shock. This act did not fit into the protocol. But the queen calmly took out her lemon and ate it too. The whole yard did the same. The incident became a precedent: now at the English court you can eat a lemon by removing it from your tea!”

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

Actually, it is this version, apparently, that appeared for the first time on the Russian-language Internet. So, in 2002, to the question “What is Gagarin tea?” one of the users of “Mail.ru Answers” told legend about fish:

“It must be said that among the Soviet intelligentsia a false idea has taken root that the lemon is served in order to squeeze its juice onto the salmon before eating it. With such manners, I would not have allowed these intellectuals not only to attend a reception with the Queen of England, but also to enter the beer hall at the Kievsky railway station. Naturally, Gagarin already knew the correct use of lemon! It turns out that lemon is only necessary to eliminate the smell of fish from the mouth after eating it. To do this, pick up a lemon slice with a fork, carefully apply it to your lips and suck in a few drops of juice. And then the lemon is carelessly placed back on the plate. But, unfortunately, Gagarin got carried away by small talk and, instead of grabbing the lemon with a fork, he grabbed it with his fingers and put it whole in his mouth. Oh horror! The Bishop of Canterbury was speechless, the Lord Keeper of the Seal dropped his fork in surprise... Everyone froze and stared at Gagarin in bewilderment, as if he had blown his nose on the tablecloth. And then Queen Elizabeth herself, in order to save the situation, grabbed the lemon directly with her hand and swallowed it like an oyster. A sigh of relief passed over the table. And immediately all the lords and ladies began to snatch up their lemons and, slurping and wincing, began to chew them.”

It must be said that, apparently, the legend of Gagarin, who ate a piece of lemon in front of 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 existed even during the USSR.

In fact, no written sources of Gagarin’s biography confirm any version of the lemon eaten in front of the queen. Gagarin actually attended an unofficial reception with the Queen of England; it happened in 1961. This incident is in biographies described, but instead of lemon, completely different facts are mentioned there.

For example, the fact that Yuri Gagarin, who did not believe in what was happening, specifically touched the queen with his hand to check whether this was really happening. That's it remembered Vladimir Lebedev, a psychologist who worked in the space program, talks about this:

“As a country boy, he only knew about kings and queens from fairy tales. Yura (a diminutive name for Gagarin) told me that he wanted so much to make sure that this was the real queen that he touched her under the table, just above the knee.”

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

But about lemon there was a story about Lieutenant-Commander Vetoshkin, one of the Russian sailors who, after World War II, was invited to a reception with the Queen. This incident, according to the recollections of witnesses, was described by Viktor Konetsky in his book "Echo".

“Captain Lieutenant Vetoshkin, having finished his tea, carefully reached into the cup with two fingers, took out a slice of lemon, bit off the core, chewed it, and put the crust, just as delicately, into the cup!”

According to Konetsky, the queen really supported the sailors and also ate her lemon.

Thus, we can conclude that there are no reliable sources about Yuri Gagarin eating lemon in the presence of the Queen of England.

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Did Gagarin eat lemon from tea at the Queen’s reception (or is this a story). And if not him, then who?
2. How Yuri Gagarin touched the queen