Queen Elizabeth II has been overheard on video describing Chinese officials as “very rude to the ambassador” in a conversation with a senior police officer at a Buckingham Palace event.
The comments, made yesterday [Macau time], were unusual because the 90-year-old monarch never comments publicly on political matters and media accompanying her are asked not to eavesdrop on private conversations.
The incident, recorded by the palace’s official cameraman at a palace garden party, captured police Commander Lucy D’Orsi telling the queen that arranging the state visit by Chinese President Xi in October had been a “testing time.”
Elizabeth responded: “They were very rude to the ambassador.”
It was the second embarrassment in one day for the palace, where Prime Minister David Cameron was overheard at a separate event describing Nigeria and Afghanistan as “possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) toasts with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II during a state banquet at Buckingham Palace in London on the first day of the state visit to Britain
In the video, an official introduced the queen to D’Orsi and explains that the officer was in charge of policing for the visit. The queen responded: “Oh! Bad luck.”
The official tells the queen that D’Orsi had been “seriously undermined by the Chinese” in the handling of the visit.
When D’Orsi asked if the queen knew it had been a “testing time,” the monarch interjected: “I did.”
The officer recalled a moment when Chinese officials walked out of a meeting with Barbara Woodward, British ambassador to China, in which the Chinese told the Brits the trip was off.
“They walked out on both of us,” D’Orsi said.
“Extraordinary,” the queen said.
“It was very rude and undiplomatic I thought,” D’Orsi said.
Both the Metropolitan police and the palace refused to comment on what they described as private conversations.
It is not the first time British royals have been caught making undiplomatic remarks about the Chinese. Prince Charles branded Chinese diplomats “appalling old waxworks” in a private journal entry that had described the 1997 ceremony to hand Hong Kong back to Chinese rule.
At another palace, cameras recorded Cameron talking about an anti-corruption summit in London, which he will chair.
“We’ve got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain,” Cameron told the monarch during a reception for the queen marking her 90th birthday. “Nigeria and Afghanistan — possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world.”
Afghanistan’s Ashraf Ghani and Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari are due to attend the London summit and each has contributed an essay on his efforts to tackle graft. Danica Kirka, London, AP
Don’t be mistaken, this was no accident. The Queen was sending a message. With so many years of experience in the public eye she knew full well what she was doing.