Communists Mingling with Royalties: Tito in London 1953

• In Event: History and Politics in the Balkans: From Yugoslavia’s Regime-Change to the Early Cold War

Abstract

In 1953, Tito became the first communist head of state to be received at Buckingham Palace. This moment of Cold War diplomacy marked a high point in Yugoslavia’s realignment of foreign policy, which had shifted from Soviet influence after the 1948 Tito-Stalin split. Petrovic’s paper will examine the symbolic and pragmatic implications of Tito's visit to London, exploring how it represented both a personal and political victory for Yugoslavia as it maneuvered between East and West. Despite the apparent success of this rapprochement, Petrovic will argue that the visit also exposed the limits of Yugoslavia’s relationship with the West, foreshadowing the eventual emergence of the non-aligned movement. The paper will explore how this event continues to shape the collective memory of Yugoslavia’s Cold War foreign policy.

Author

• Vladimir Petrovic, NIOD Inst for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (Netherlands)