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Metropolitan
Police Commander Lucy D'Orsi meeting the Queen during a Buckingham Palace
garden party (UKTV Pool/PA)
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The Chinese Embassy has
maintained that both sides made "great efforts" over last year's
Chinese state visit - after the Queen was caught on camera describing the
republic's officials as "very rude".
Press
Association report continues:
The
monarch was overheard making the uncharacteristically unguarded comments at a
Buckingham Palace garden party during a discussion with a Metropolitan Police
commander about the difficulties of organizing the stay in October by President
Xi Jinping.
The
Queen quipped "bad luck" when she heard that Lucy D'Orsi was assigned
to be Gold Commander of the police operation around the world leader's trip to
the UK.
A
spokeswoman from the Chinese Embassy in the UK branded the state visit a
success, but made no direct mention of the monarch.
"President
Xi Jinping's state visit to the UK last year was very successful. Both sides at
the working level made great efforts towards the success of the visit,"
the spokeswoman said.
Foreign
Secretary Philip Hammond has admitted that the important visit "got a bit
stressful on both sides".
Speaking
in Gibraltar, he confirmed: "Big state visits are big logistic challenges.
I was involved in this and, yes, at times it got a bit stressful on both sides.
"But
it was a great state visit - everybody agrees, hugely successful - and our
relationship with China is very strong and has been greatly strengthened by the
success of that visit."
The
Queen's comments were captured by an official Palace cameraman soon after Prime
Minister David Cameron was filmed describing Afghanistan and Nigeria to the
monarch as "fantastically corrupt" in a separate diplomatic mishap.
When
the Queen's remarks were reported on BBC World, the broadcast was blacked out
in China.
Michel
Hockx, director of SOAS China Institute, told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire
show that some on Chinese social media believed the conversation was scripted -
because the official introducing Ms D'Orsi to the Queen was reading from his
notes.
"It
comes across as very sort of scripted and unnatural ... the fact that it was
caught on camera and being put into the public domain - so some people are
saying 'Well, this Queen turns out to be just another politician anyway'."
He
added: "Other people are saying 'Well, we're always worried about our
politicians not knowing how to behave in civilized countries like the UK and
this proves they still have a lot to learn'."
Footage
showed the Queen being introduced to Ms D'Orsi by Earl Peel, Lord Chamberlain
of the Royal Household. When Lord Peel said Ms D'Orsi had been Gold Commander
for the operation, the monarch quipped: "Oh, bad luck."
Lord
Peel continued to tell the Queen the officer had been "seriously
undermined by the Chinese" in their handling of the visit, but added that
she had managed to "hold her own".
As
Ms D'Orsi asked if she knew it had been a "testing time", the Queen
interjected: "I did."
The
officer described how Chinese officials walked out of a meeting at Lancaster
House with Barbara Woodward, British ambassador to China, telling them the trip
was off.
The
Queen said: "They were very rude to the ambassador."
The
remarks were recorded as the Queen greeted guests in the Palace gardens.
A
Palace spokeswoman said: "We do not comment on the Queen's private
conversations. However, the Chinese state visit was extremely successful and
all parties worked closely to ensure it proceeded smoothly."
The
Metropolitan Police said they would not comment on the private conversation.
It
is not the first time a member of the British Royal Family has made
undiplomatic comments about Chinese officials.
The
Prince of Wales branded Chinese diplomats "appalling old waxworks" in
a private journal entry about the Hong Kong handover ceremony in 1997.
Referencing
his own microphone issue when he was recorded describing voter Gillian Duffy as
a ''bigoted woman'' during the 2010 general election campaign, former prime
minister Gordon Brown said: ''Lots of politicians have problems when
microphones are on. Even the Queen, I understand.''
Earlier
on Tuesday, Mr Cameron was filmed describing Afghanistan and Nigeria in
unflattering terms while he discussed an upcoming anti-corruption summit with
the Queen and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
"We've
got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to
Britain," Mr Cameron told the Queen. "Nigeria and Afghanistan -
possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world."
Rana
Mitter, director of Oxford University's China Centre, suggested that China was
more concerned about Britain possibly leaving the EU than remarks made by the
Queen.
"I
think the Chinese are extremely pragmatic on these sorts of things ... There is
a perception that the UK is an important enough trading and political partner
that this sort of incident isn't going to get in the way," Professor
Mitter said.
"I
suspect that Chinese officials are far more concerned about the prospect of
Britain leaving the European Union than they are about the overheard comments
of high-level figures."
He
added of the Queen's comments: "My sense is that Chinese officials won't
be entirely surprised. They will be aware that the way in which the security
arrangements around this visit were made for Xi Jinping were a lot more
vigorous and a lot more demanding than on previous visits.
"They'll have
certainly received a significant pushback from the British side on that
front."
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