King Charles III met with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Fee, at Windsor Citadel on Monday afternoon, the place the pair shared some tea and posed for a photograph.
However the seemingly unremarkable afternoon cuppa has proved controversial to some in Britain. They noticed the king’s resolution to satisfy with a serious E.U. chief as too political and instantly in battle along with his apolitical function, as Ms. von der Leyen was within the nation to finalize a brand new Brexit deal.
An announcement from Buckingham Palace on the assembly hinted at the concept that the king might have been requested by the federal government to satisfy with Ms. von der Leyen.
“The king is happy to satisfy any world chief if they’re visiting Britain and it’s the authorities’s recommendation that he ought to accomplish that,” a palace spokesperson stated in an announcement. However a spokesperson for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated that he “firmly believes it’s for the king to make these choices.”
The European Fee has been clear that the assembly between Ms. von der Leyen and the king was not a part of the Northern Eire talks course of, a spokesperson stated throughout a day information convention. The spokesperson added that the king and Ms. von der Leyen would probably talk about a wide range of worldwide points.
Whatever the actual circumstances, the assembly has drawn hypothesis from many within the British public, and the information media, that King Charles had overstepped his function as head of state and waded into the world of politics.
The writer Alexander Larman, writing in Britain’s Spectator magazine, referred to as the choice to participate within the assembly “a mistake,” and stated it was “an unprecedented, febrile concept that the king may need chosen a political aspect.”
“For the king, that is harmful territory,” he wrote, including, “If the settlement is panned, and King Charles is seen to have endorsed it, even implicitly, by assembly von der Leyen, the monarch dangers being dragged right into a row of the federal government’s making.”
Northern Eire’s Democratic Unionist Occasion additionally confirmed indicators it was towards the assembly, with the social gathering’s former chief, Arlene Foster, writing on Twitter that she “can’t fairly consider” that Downing Road “would ask HM the King to change into concerned within the finalising of a deal as controversial as this one.”
She added: “It’s crass and can go down very badly in NI. We should bear in mind this isn’t the King’s resolution however the Authorities who it seems are tone deaf.”
