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Table of Contents
The Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 1
  • 27 October 1937
  • 12 July
  • 18 July
  • 9 August
  • 30 October
  • 31 October
  • 1 November
  • 4 November
  • 5 November
  • 6 November
  • 7 November
  • 9 November
  • 10 November
  • 12 November
  • 15 November
  • 16 November
  • 17 November
  • 18 November
  • 23 November
  • 24 November
  • 25 November
  • 27 November
  • 28 November
  • 29 November
  • 1 December
  • 5 December
  • 6 December
  • 11 December
  • 13 December
  • 16 December
  • 17 December
  • 18 December
  • 19 December
  • 20 December
  • 24 December
  • 27 December
  • 31 December
  • 8 January
  • 9 January
  • 15 January
  • 18 January
  • 25 January
  • 26 January
  • 28 January
  • 1 February
  • 4 February
  • 6 February
  • 10 February
  • 12 February
  • 14 February
  • 15 February
  • 20 February
  • 21 February
  • 22 February
  • 28 February
  • 1 March (1)
  • 1 March (2)
  • 2 March
  • 4 March
  • 5 March
  • 6 March
  • 7 March
  • 8 March
  • 9 March
  • 11 March
  • 12 March
  • 13 March
  • 14 March
  • 15 March
  • 16 March
  • 17 March
  • 18 March
  • 19 March
  • 20 March
  • 21 March
  • 22 March
  • 23 March
  • 3 June
  • 5 June
  • 6 June
  • 12 June
  • 15 June
  • 16 June
  • 17 June
  • 19 June
  • 27 June
  • 2 July
  • 8 July
  • 9 July
  • 7 September
  • 4 November
  • 6 November
  • 8 November
  • 13 November
  • 14 November
  • 15 November
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  • 20 January
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  • 26 January
  • 28 January
  • 29 January
  • 30 January
  • 31 January
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  • 28 March
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  • 1 December
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  • 16 June
  • 28 June
  • 1 July
  • 27 July
  • 29 July
  • 29 July
  • 1 August
  • 10 August
  • 23 August
  • 25 August
  • 12 September
  • 14 September
  • 19 September
  • 27 October
  • 6 November
  • 16 November
  • 17 November
  • 18 November
  • 24 November
  • 1 December
  • 4 December
  • 12 December
  • 14 December
  • 4 January
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  • 25 January
  • 27 January
  • 28 January
  • 7 February
  • 11 February
  • 25 February
  • 1 March
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  • 8 September
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  • PS 1 October
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  • 20 September
  • 21 September
  • 22 September
  • 23 September
  • 24 September
  • 25 September
  • 26 September
  • 27 September
  • 28 September
  • 29 September
  • 30 September
  • 1 October
  • 6 October
  • 11 October
  • 13 October
  • 15 October
  • 17 October
  • 19 October
  • 20 October
  • 22 October
  • 25 October
  • 26 October
  • 27 October
  • 28 October
  • 30 October
  • 31 October
  • 1 November
  • 3 November
  • 9 November
  • 15 November
  • 16 November
  • 17 November
  • 25 November
  • 27 November
  • 7 December
  • 11 December
  • 13 December
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  • 19 December
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© 2025
29 November
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By Liakhovetsky, Ivan Mikhailovich (Maisky)

The Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 1

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29 November
The royal wedding finally took place today. From first light, and even from the previous night, London seemed to be overflowing its banks. Up to half a million people descended on the capital from all over the country. Many foreigners arrived from the continent. The streets along which the wedding procession would pass were filled to bursting by an immense crowd that had gathered on the previous evening to occupy the best places. Typically, the crowd consisted almost entirely of women. I, at least, noticed barely a single man on my way from the embassy to Westminster Abbey. Some newspapers also noted this (the Manchester Guardian for one). Large platforms were erected at various points along the procession, with seats being sold for between one and ten guineas. The city, particularly its central part, was decked out gaudily with flags, festoons and banners showing portraits of the bridegroom and the bride; and in the evening, the town was lavishly illuminated. The full works, in other words. The wedding was turned into a real national event.
This is evidence of two things. First, the utter shallowness and political backwardness of the average Englishman, including hundreds of thousands of workmen. Second, the extraordinary deftness of the English bourgeois elite, which has managed to exploit these features of the hoi polloi to superb effect, in order to inflame dynastic sentiments on the one hand, and to give an artificial boost to industry and trade on the other (hotels, restaurants, tailors, milliners, jewellers and so on – all made a good Geschäft out of the wedding). At the same time, this display of solid ‘national unity’ before the world (Labour leaders


Page 42

were also in attendance, among them Lansbury,
George Lansbury, leader of the Labour Party, 1931–35.
Henderson, Attlee,
Clement Richard Attlee (1st Earl Attlee), deputy leader of the Labour Party in the House of Commons, 1931–35; Labour Party leader, 1935–55; lord privy seal, 1940–42; deputy prime minister and secretary of state for dominion affairs, 1942–43; lord president of the council, 1943–45; prime minister, 1945–51.
Morgan Jones
Morgan Jones, trade union leader, 1931–38.
) can do no harm at all to the interests of British diplomacy…
On this occasion I was obliged to attend the wedding ceremony itself, in Westminster Abbey. That’s what Moscow decided. It was the first time I had attended a church service since leaving school, 33 years ago! That’s quite a stretch.
The diplomatic corps sat to the right of the entrance, and members of the government on the left. Simon was my partner on the opposite side. MacDonald zealously chanted psalms during the service, Baldwin yawned wearily, while Elliot
Walter Elliot, Conservative MP, 1924–45; minister of agriculture, 1932–36, secretary of state for Scotland, 1936–38; minister of health, 1938–40; director of public relations, War Office, 1941–42.
simply dozed. Churchill looked deeply moved and at one point even seemed to wipe his eyes with a handkerchief. Henderson sang ‘God Save the King’ with an extraordinary display of energy. All the royalties gathered to the right and left of the pulpit, and the remaining space was crammed with representatives of the aristocracy and big business. A choir clad in white occupied the special seats upstairs, where the organ droned away, filling the high vaults of the cathedral with the sounds of Bach, Handel and Elgar.
My appearance in the church caused an exchange of glances and whispers among diplomats and members of the government. So far, though, the newspapers have made no great fuss about it. The Segodnya of 19 November and Poslednie Novosti of 21 November informed readers of the ‘forthcoming “meeting” between [Grand Duke] Kirill Vladimirovich and Ambassador Maisky’ at the royal reception, but they didn’t speculate about my possible presence in the abbey. The Whites evidently can’t have expected me to go to church…
My neighbour, a Nepalese minister [General Bahadur S.J.B. Rana],
Minister General Bahadur S.J.B. Rana, first Nepalese ambassador in London, 1934–36. He went on to become director of the Nepal Bank and later headed the Nepalese contingent in India in the Second World War. He was president of the 1947 Constitutional Reform Committee and eastern commanding general until 1951, which put him two places below the maharaja; the Rana prime minister and effective ruler of the country. He vanished from public life after the end of the Rana regime. I am indebted to Prof. David Gellner of All Souls College, Oxford, for the information. See a diary entry on the ambassador on 5 June 1935.
was very striking: on his head he wore a gold hat sprinkled with big diamonds and rubies, and topped by a huge ‘cock’s tail’. The general effect was rather amusing; but at that moment the Nepalese envoy was undoubtedly carrying tens of thousands of pounds on his head.
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Document Details
Document Title29 November
AuthorLiakhovetsky, Ivan Mikhailovich (Maisky)
RecipientN/A
RepositoryN/A
ID #N/A
DescriptionN/A
Date1934 Nov 29
AOC VolumeThe Complete Maisky Diaries: Volume 1
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