LONDON (AP) – The Latest on Queen Elizabeth II’s comments at a garden party that Chinese officials were “very rude” to Britain’s ambassador ahead of a state visit by Chinese President Xi in October (all times local):
10:25 a.m.
A spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry has declined to directly address Queen Elizabeth II’s remarks describing Chinese officials as “very rude” to Britain’s ambassador ahead of a state visit by Chinese President Xi in October.
But spokesman Lu Kang says at a daily news briefing in Beijing that Xi made a “very successful visit” to Britain.
Lu says the working teams from both sides made huge efforts to make the visit possible and the effort has been highly recognized by both China and Britain.
Despite Lu’s comments, China appears to regard the reports about the queen’s comments as sensitive. Information about the comments was difficult to find on China’s heavily censored Internet and government monitors cut the signal of the British Broadcasting Company when it reported on them.
The queen’s comments, made Tuesday at a palace garden party, were captured by the palace’s official cameraman.
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9:50 a.m.
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 Tuesday, 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 on Tuesday 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.”