The Queen has refused to loan three 17th-century swords from the Royal Collection for an exhibition about duelling at the Kremlin Museums in Moscow.
The display, which had been due to run from March 4 until June 16, was sponsored by Alisher Usmanov, an Uzbek-born Russian oligarch who is subject to international sanctions.
The Royal Collection had initially agreed to loan the items but permission was withdrawn in mid-February. A spokesman for the Queen’s art collection told The Guardian that, as part of a wider cultural boycott of Russia, “a decision to postpone a loan of three swords from the Royal Collection was made”.
The Queen with President Putin during his state visit to Britain in 2003
PA
The Moscow Kremlin Museums has now confirmed the postponement of The Duel: from Trial by Combat to a Noble Crime
