Gossip fiends and barbarians! Chinese go on the attack after Queen was caught on camera branding their officials 'very rude'
- The Queen spoke about President Xi Jinping and his wife's visit last year
- She blasted 'very rude' officials' treatment of UK's ambassador to China
- Comments have been largely censored in China, including a blackout of BBC coverage
- But an editorial in state-linked newspaper has condemned 'gossip fiends' and 'barbarians' and hinted the remarks may have been leaked deliberately
- See the latest news on The Queen
The spat over the Queen's unguarded comments about 'rude' Chinese officials has escalated after a state-linked newspaper lashed out at 'gossip fiends and barbarians'.
The monarch made a rare diplomatic blunder when she was filmed criticising the behaviour of President Xi Jinping's team during last year's state visit.
During a conversation with Metropolitan Police Commander Lucy D'Orsi at a Buckingham Palace garden party, the Queen said the officials had been 'very rude to the ambassador … extraordinary'.
The remarks made headlines worldwide yesterday but were largely censored in China, including being blacked out of BBC World transmissions.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II hosts a State Banquet for Chinese President Xi Jinping, at Buckingham Palace in London last October. She was caught on camera saying his team was 'very rude'
However, an article in China's Global Times newspaper today, which is close to ruling Communist Party, delivered a vicious response:'The West in modern times has risen to the top and created a brilliant civilisation, but their media is full of reckless "gossip fiends" who bare their fangs and brandish their claws and are very narcissistic, retaining the bad manners of 'barbarians'.
'As they experience constant exposure to the 5,000 years of continuous Eastern civilisation, we believe they will make progress' when it comes to manners, it added according to a translation of the Chinese-language article.
Xi's trip in October saw a clutch of contracts announced as David Cameron and President Xi hailed a new era in relations.
But there was a row over an apparent attempt to get a Chinese spy into the Queen's carriage.
At the garden party the Lord Chamberlain, Earl Peel, introduced the senior policewoman, explaining that she had been in charge of security for the politically sensitive visit by President Xi Jinping and his wife.
'Oh, bad luck,' the Queen remarked. Earl Peel said Commander D'Orsi was someone 'who was seriously, seriously undermined by the Chinese, but she managed to hold her own'.
She asked whether the Queen knew it was 'a testing time for me', and the monarch replied: 'I did.'
The Queen smiles in the sunshine during a visit to Windsor Horse Show today - one of her favourite events in the Royal calendar
Commander D'Orsi described how, during one head-to-head, the Chinese delegation stormed out of London's Lancaster House in front of her and British ambassador to China Barbara Woodward, telling her 'the trip was off'.
The Queen said: 'They were very rude to the ambassador … extraordinary.'
The sovereign's uncharacteristically indiscreet remarks were picked up by cameraman Peter Wilkinson. He unwittingly fed the footage to broadcasters including the BBC, which aired it on the News at Ten in a report on an earlier diplomatic mishap by the Prime Minister.
Royal sources have revealed that the Queen's plastic umbrella had a amplified her comments and sent them towards a microphone belonging to her own personal cameraman.
In a rare diplomatic gaffe, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II was caught on camera at a Buckingham Palace garden party making unguarded comments about a state visit last year by President Xi Jinping
The Queen's comments emerged shortly after David Cameron had come under fire over an unguarded boast that he had 'fantastically corrupt' countries coming to a London summit this week
Had the sun been shining on Tuesday her majesty's comments would not have surfaced.
An insider told the Telegraph: 'If she had been holding an umbrella made of fabric, it wouldn't have happened.
'But because it's plastic, it reflects the sound like a satellite dish.'
The Global Times editorial said: 'Even among Western countries, Britain is most frequently "caught with its pants down" and "exposing itself".'
The article also seemed to hint that British authorities could have deliberately leaked the royal footage.
Saying pointedly that such a leak would be 'unthinkable', the piece said 'if they had deliberately done so, that would have been truly crude and rude'.
It played down the Queen's comments themselves as 'not a big deal', stating: 'Chinese diplomats surely also scoff at British bureaucrats in private.'
The Queen, dressed in a relaxed gilet and headscarf, admires one of the horses taking part in the event at Windsor Great Park
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