King Charles III met with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Fee, at Windsor Fort 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 fulfill with a significant E.U. chief as too political and straight in battle together with his apolitical function, as Ms. von der Leyen was within the nation to finalize a brand new Brexit deal.

A press release from Buckingham Palace on the assembly hinted at the concept the king might have been requested by the federal government to fulfill with Ms. von der Leyen.

“The king is happy to fulfill any world chief if they’re visiting Britain and it’s the authorities’s recommendation that he ought to achieve this,” a palace spokesperson stated in a press release. 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 doubtless talk about a wide range of worldwide points.

Whatever the precise 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 journal, known as the choice to participate within the assembly “a mistake,” and stated it was “an unprecedented, febrile concept that the king might need chosen a political facet.”

“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 Celebration additionally confirmed indicators it was in opposition to the assembly, with the social gathering’s former chief, Arlene Foster, writing on Twitter that she “can not fairly imagine” 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 keep in mind this isn’t the King’s resolution however the Authorities who it seems are tone deaf.”