Queen Calls Chinese Officials 'Very Rude'

By Matthew Bossons

While Buckingham Palace’s official stance on last year’s Chinese state visit was that it was “extremely successful,” the Queen herself had other thoughts on her foreign guests. 

According to media reports that surfaced today, Queen Elizabeth was recently filmed stating that Chinese officials were very disrespectful during their state visit – rude specifically to Barbara Woodward, Britain’s first female ambassador to China.

The footage was shot on Tuesday at a Buckingham Palace garden party and shows the Queen discussing President Xi Jinping’s visit with Metropolitan police commander Lucy D’Orsi, to whom she remarks “Oh, bad luck” when learning the commander was responsible for security during the visit. In the video, the Queen also states that Chinese officials “were very rude to the ambassador." 

D’Orsi is also recorded telling the Queen that the visit was a “testing time” for her and that Chinese officials had walked out on her and the ambassador at one point – telling her “the trip was off,” according to The Guardian.

“It’s very rude and very undiplomatic, I thought,” said the police commander.

The footage was reportedly shot by the Queen’s official cameraman and was distributed to media by Buckingham Palace.

The British embassy in Beijing has so far declined to comment on both the filmed comments and the impact they may have on UK-Sino relations.

To her credit, the Queen* has not backed away from her statements, tweeting today “Well they were.” 

* Parody account, obviously.

[Images via The Guardian and Twitter]

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