The Queen was filmed telling a senior police officer she thought Chinese officials were “very rude” during President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the UK in October.
The conversation with Metropolitan Police Service commander Lucy D’Orsi was recorded by the Queen’s official cameraman who caught her off-guard while she greeted guests in the gardens of Buckingham Palace in an event marking her 90th birthday on Tuesday.
She was introduced to the officer who explained her experience of overseeing security during the visit.
Transcript
Lord Chamberlain: “Can I present Commander Lucy D’Orsi, Gold Commander when the Chinese State Visit…”
Queen: “Oh, bad luck”
Lord Chamberlain: …”who was seriously undermined by the Chinese”
D’Orsi: “I’m not sure whether you knew, but it was quite a testing time for me.”
Queen: “I did.”
D’Orsi: “It was er, I think at the point that they walked out of Lancaster House and told me that the trip was off, I felt that, er…”
Queen: “They were very rude to the Ambassador.”
D’Orsi: “They were, well, she was – yes, Barbara was with me – and they walked out on both of us.”
Queen: “Extraordinary.”
D’Orsi: “It was very rude and undiplomatic I thought.”
Buckingham Palace said the Chinese state visit was “extremely successful”.
TV coverage of the conversation has reportedly been censored in China, with BBC World TV blanking out during the report.
President Xi Jinping and his wife were honoured with a state banquet at Buckingham Palace, which the Queen hosted.
Her description is less incendiary than Prince Charles’ remarks of the handing over ceremony of Hong Kong in 1997, returning control to China, where he described Chinese leaders as a “group of appalling old waxworks” in a journal.
The Queen’s comments come after David Cameron was filmed saying Afghanistan and Nigeria were "fantastically corrupt” ahead of the anti-corruption summit he is hosting on Thursday.
