Fleet Street, or at least its pack of royal reporters, has a heart after all.


Several of the 80 London-based correspondents and photographers covering Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Russia acknowledged Wednesday night that they have a soft spot for the queen. Some said they feel badly that the scandals back home about Prince Charles and his marriage are encroaching on what they say is a very important tour, as royal tours go.


Old hands at royal tours, they point out that the visit is the first time a British monarch has come to Russia and the first time Russia has seen a monarch since the revolution. She has given the royal approval to Yeltsin and his reforms.


He is terribly impressed by her, they say. The visit is an important step in cementing the relationship between the two countries.


But they have no doubts at all that the sensational details of a new authorized biography on Charles have spoiled the trip for the queen.


"She must be distraught," said Charles Rae, court correspondent for the daily tabloid Today and experienced royal watcher. "Any mother would be whose son publishes that she is cold and distant, and that his father is a brute," he said.


"Part of her mind is on the problems back home, but she is doing her job," he said, adding, "She never puts a foot wrong."


The royal pack were also incensed for the queen's sake over the fiasco of her Red Square walkabout, when police kept Russian onlookers away. "It was the worst chaotic mess I've ever seen in my life," Rae said.


"The walkabout is one of the central features of a royal visit. It was devised for them, it is a chance for the visiting royal to meet people and talk to them."


Prince Philip summed it up, Rae said, with his comment, "It's a pity I didn't meet more Muscovites."