Hizzonner, meet His Highness!
Mayor Zohran Mamdani was all smiles as he met King Charles III Wednesday — just hours after threatening to demand the monarch return a massive crown jewel diamond that symbolizes bloody British colonialism.
The 77-year-old Charles — who hasn’t been to New York City in nearly 20 years — grinned back while shaking Mamdani’s hand and saying, “Thank you,” as the pair greeted each other during a wreath-laying ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in Lower Manhattan.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani was all smiles as he met King Charles III at the 9/11 memorial in Manhattan on Wednesday during a rare royal visit to New York City.
The political odd couple chatted pleasantly during the brief encounter while former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, chairman of the memorial, looked on and members of the media were told to stand back, according to footage from Sky News.
It wasn’t immediately clear what the men discussed during the meeting, which lasted just minutes. Mamdani left the event after an hour.
Earlier in the day, reporters asked the 34-year-old democratic socialist at an unrelated press conference what he would say to Charles if he could talk to him.
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“If I was to speak to the king… I would probably encourage him to return the Kohinoor diamond,” Mamdani quipped — referring to one of the worlds’ largest cut diamonds, which was taken from India and is now part of the British Crown Jewels.
The infamous 105-carat gem, which is on display at the Tower of London, was mined in India hundreds of years ago — and has a history of violently changing hands among rulers.
Mamdani is all smiles as he greets King Charles III. AP
Critics say it’s a “symbol of conquest” and a token of colonial violence. Legend has it, the diamond is “cursed.”
Hizzoner’s interaction with the royal couple was frosty compared to how Gotham mayors have welcomed past monarchs to the city.
Former Mayor Robert Wagner threw a ticker tape parade to welcome Queen Elizabeth II in 1957, and former mayor Abe Beame’s granddaughter greeted Queen Elizabeth II with a bouquet of flowers as her ship sailed into Manhattan’s Battery Park roughly 20 years later.
Bloomberg and fellow former Mayor Rudy Giuliani were later both recognized by the late Queen as Honorary Knight Commanders of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
Mamdani, by contrast, wouldn’t even confirm his attendance at the 9/11 ceremony when it was reported last week — only to reveal on Monday that he’d be there while barely mentioning their Highnesses, according to Politico.
“I will be attending the wreath-laying … to pay tribute to the more than 3,000 who were killed in the horrific terror attacks of Sept. 11,” Mamdani said Monday. “And that will be the extent of my meeting with the king and with others who are present.”
Mamdani’s political views fly in the face of traditional monarchy and his personal background, including his upbringing in Uganda and South Africa, clashes with the history of British imperialism —which he has called a “story of oppression, subjugation, and discrimination.”
On Wednesday, the king and his wife, Queen Camilla, were led into the memorial by Bloomberg and paid respects by laying a bouquet of white flowers near the memorial’s sprawling reflective pools, before pausing for a somber moment of silence.
The smartly dressed couple, who both sported navy outfits, then met family members of those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
Firefighters and police were seen surrounding the royals while dressed in uniform on the third day of their trip to the US.
Beth Hillman, President and CEO of the 9/11 memorial, called the royals’ visit a “tremendous honor.”
“9/11 was an attack on people around the world. It hit hardest here in New York City, but 67 citizens of the United Kingdom were killed on that day. People from 90 countries were killed along with all the Americans,” she told The Post.
This visit marks the first time in 20 years since the British monarch last touched down in New York City. via REUTERS
“It’s an important way to demonstrate resilience, to demonstrate unity and to remind people of the ways we can come together and that seems something that the Crown has worked to do.”
Charles hasn’t hopped across the pond since he toured the Big Apple with his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in 2007.
At the time, he and Camilla visited the Promise Academy charter school in Harlem, watched students rehearse a school play and played basketball with a group of kids.
The last time Britain’s head of state took a trip to New York was in July 2010 when Queen Elizabeth visited Ground Zero to lay a wreath during a sweltering 103-degree heat wave.
The trip closely resembled the one her son made to the memorial roughly 16 years later — with Elizabeth joining then-Mayor Bloomberg and then-Gov. David Paterson. The then-queen also met families of first responders who died during the terror attack.