Members of the Royal Family including Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle have spoken out about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Her Majesty the Queen is bound by the crown to be a neutral party – but our 95-year-old monarch once broke royal protocol and made her thoughts on Russia’s President Putin very clear.
She made a scathing remark in 2003, when he was 14 minutes late for their meeting.
David Blunkett, who was Home Secretary at the time, was present and his guide dog gave a loud bark at the dictator.
He told the BBC: “I did apologise to the Queen who was obviously hosting. I don’t think I am giving anything away when I said, ‘Sorry your Majesty about the dog barking’.
“She said, ‘Dogs have interesting instincts, don’t they?’”
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Her Majesty has met Putin on many occasions during her 70 year reign, but his 2003 state visit is bound to be the most memorable.
The British monarchy has shown their support for the people of Ukraine after the Russian President announced a 'specialised military operation' on Thursday 24 February.
Putin’s army has invaded Ukraine causing over half a million of its citizens to flee their homes.
In a heartfelt statement, Kate Middleton and Prince William wrote: “Today we stand with the President and all of Ukraine’s people as they bravely fight for that future. W & C.”
The message, shared on Twitter, gained 14,000 likes within 30 minutes and nearly 2,000 retweets.
Meanwhile, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle took to their Archewell website to show support.
Their statement read: “Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and all of us at Archewell stand with the people of Ukraine against this breach of international and humanitarian law and encourage the global community and its leaders to do the same.”
But the most spirited stand against the dictator has come from Prince Charles. During a visit to Southend-on-Sea on Tuesday, Charles commented: “The values of democracy and freedom are under attack today in Ukraine in the most unconscionable way. We are in solidarity with all those who are resisting brutal aggression.”
Returning to her neutral stance and in light of the invasion, the Queen postponed a diplomatic reception at Windsor Castle.
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On the advice of the Foreign Secretary, the monarch pressed pause on the meeting due to take place on Wednesday.
Her Majesty was set to host hundreds of diplomats at her Berkshire residence. Buckingham Palace released a message on the sensitive move.
It read: “The Queen has accepted the Foreign Secretary’s advice that the diplomatic reception at Windsor on March 2 should be postponed.”
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