He may simply have been embracing his Greek ancestry, or thought it would complement his suit. But King Charles’s decision to sport a tie bearing the Greek flag when he addressed Cop28 alongside the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, was bound to raise eyebrows, given the recent diplomatic spat over the Parthenon sculptures.

The king, whose father was born in Corfu as a prince of Greece, may also have been taking a leaf out of his mother Queen Elizabeth II’s sartorial handbook in statement dressing.

Displayed before the cameras on the world stage, his neckwear was certainly regarded in Greece as an implicit sign of support after the row between Sunak and his Greek counterpart, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, over what are known by some in the UK as the Elgin marbles.

Earlier this week, Sunak abruptly cancelled a face-to-face meeting with the Greek PM after an interview with the BBC in which Mitsotakis described the retention of the marbles at the British Museum as akin to the Mona Lisa being cut in half. A spokesperson for Sunak said later that he felt any talks were likely to be “dominated” by the row over the sculptures, which Greece wants back.

Muted by kinghood from overt political statement, Charles may have just found a workaround to making his opinion clear. Then again, it may simply be that he likes the tie.

A royal source said it was one of his current collection and pointed out that he had also worn it at Horse Guards Parade during the recent South Korean state visit, as well as on previous occasions at times of news stories about Greece.

According to Greek media, the tie is a piece from the Pagoni Maison des Cravates, an upmarket boutique in Kolonaki, Athens.

If it was a pointed message, either it was lost on Sunak or he didn’t mind, as the prime minister happily posted a picture of himself with the monarch on the social media platform X.

The Greek City Times website wrote: “Just a few days after the uproar caused in Great Britain and Greece by Rishi Sunak’s unfair treatment of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, King Charles III appeared to take a stand by choosing an obvious message, perhaps much stronger than any statement.

“It could well be interpreted as a gesture of support for our country against the background of both the controversy for the Parthenon sculptures as well as after the indecent move of the British prime minister to cancel the planned meeting he had with Kyriakos Mitsotakis during the Greek prime minister’s visit to London.”

The Greek news portal Iefimerida agreed: “The king of Britain’s choice could be interpreted as a display of support for our country in the long-running dispute over the Parthenon sculptures,” it opined.

Charles, who regularly holidays in the country of his father’s birth, has spoken of “feeling a profound connection to Greece – her landscape, her history and her culture”.

On Friday, Stanley Johnson, father of the former prime minister Boris and a former Euro MP, weighed into the row, telling Greece’s public broadcaster, ERT, that the moment had come to repatriate the marbles.

Citing polls that showed support among Britons rising sharply for the marbles’ return to Greece, he said: “I do strongly believe that this is a moment to move on with the Greek marbles … to reunite this collection in a place where they can be properly looked after. I do believe there are real questions as to whether they were legally brought to Britain … My understanding is that he [Lord Elgin] used the marbles to finance an expensive divorce in this country. I think we have to say to ourselves, this is the moment we cannot continue [holding on to them].”

Elizabeth II is also believed to have used outfits to impart a wider message. When she opened parliament in 2017 in a cornflower blue hat with yellow decorations, while announcing legislation to prepare the UK for its departure from the European Union, her choice of headwear was immediately compared to the EU flag. Guy Verhofstadt, then the European parliament’s lead negotiator on Brexit, even tweeted: “Clearly, the EU still inspires some in the UK #QueensSpeech.”

The late queen also famously wore an outfit in the blue and yellow of Ukraine when she opened London’s Elizabeth underground line, named after her, in 2022.