Ambassador Dayan Jayatillake in Geneva has raised angry hackles in Britain through a discussion at the UN Human Rights Council that has reported that Britain should get rid of the Monarchy, British press reports said yesterday.

The Daily Telegraph headlined the story "Britain should get rid of the Monarchy says UN" with a sub-head "The United Nations report says Britain should abolish its Monarchy."

The publication of this story had attracted some angry telephone calls to the Sri Lanka High Commission in London.

The Daily Telegraph report by Nick Allen quoted the UN Human Rights Council saying that the

"UK must consider holding a referendum on the desirability or otherwise of a written constitution, preferably Republican."

The report noted that the council has 29 members including Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Sri Lanka and said "it was the Sri Lankan envoy who raised concerns over the British Monarchy."

The resulting report said Britain should have a referendum on the Monarchy and the need for a written constitution with a Bill of Rights.

The Telegraph quoted Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, saying: "With so many human rights abuses around the world the UN should be busy reporting on issues of starvation, execution and the denial of the vote to huge numbers of people around the world.

"Saudi Arabia and Cuba should pay a little more attention to their own human rights record."

The Daily Express too gave the story play running the story with a picture of the Queen with an inset of Jayatillake. The Express report said that "the demand by the Council which includes regimes like Saudi Arabia and Cuba among its 29 members, caused outrage last night."

The Express said that advisors to the Queen refused to comment publicly. But privately they admitted being astonished.

"The UN comments about the Queen were included (in the report) at the request of the Council’s Sri Lankan envoy, Dayan Jayatillake, the Express report said.