LONDON – Queen Elizabeth was caught on camera describing members of a Chinese delegation on a state visit a year ago as “very rude”, in a rare diplomatic gaffe by the monarch.
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The Queen has been careful to keep her views to herself during her 64-year reign, but several other members of Britain’s royal family have made undiplomatic comments about China in the past.
Can Cameron be far behind?
According to the Associated Press, the 90-year-old monarch recently confessed the Chinese officials her team met with during their 2015 state visit to China were “very rude”.
Elizabeth then says: “They were very rude to the ambassador”.
At the garden party the Lord Chamberlain, Earl Peel, introduced the senior policewoman, explaining that she had been in charge of security for the politically sensitive visit by President Xi Jinping and his wife. The Queen responded, “Oh!”
“I’m not sure whether you knew, but it was quite a testing time for me”, D’Orsi says to the Queen who confirms that she knows what the head of security was talking about.
Commander D’Orsi described how, during one head-to-head, the Chinese delegation stormed out of London’s Lancaster House in front of her and British ambassador to China Barbara Woodward, telling her “the trip was off”.
“We’re already embarrassed by talk about what our average people get up to overseas”, said one. “Extraordinary”, the Queen said.
“The West in modern times has risen to the top and created a brilliant civilisation, but their media is full of reckless “gossip fiends” who bare their fangs and brandish their claws and are very narcissistic, retaining the bad manners of “barbarians”, it said in an editorial published yesterday. Buckingham Palace would not comment on a “private conversation” but said all parties worked closely to ensure the visit proceeded smoothly. The palace stressed that Xi’s visit had been “extremely successful”.
China’s state-run Global Times reported Thursday that foreign ministry spokesperson responded to the footage by insisting that President Xi Jinping’s visit to the United Kingdom had marked a new phase in developing a “golden era” for bilateral relations.
Britain’s monarch has been caught on camera complaining about the rudeness of Chinese officials during preparations for last October’s much-vaunted state visit by President Xi Jinping. “Both sides have made great efforts for the success of the visit, and the two sides highly recognised that”.
A former foreign official told BBC Newsnight on Wednesday that the Queen acquiesced to meet Chinese officials under pressure from Chancellor George Osborne and Prime Minister David Cameron.
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Charles, who is friends with Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, did not attend a state banquet for Xi in October, but did hold private talks with the Chinese leader over tea.
