Hizzonner, meet His Highness!

Zohran Mamdani gave King Charles III and Queen Camilla a relatively frosty reception Wednesday compared to how past Gotham mayors have welcomed UK monarchs to New York City.

The mayor was still all smiles as he shook hands with Charles — though just hours earlier had said he wanted to demand the king return a massive crown jewel diamond that symbolizes bloody British colonialism. 

The 77-year-old Charles — who hasn’t been to the city in nearly 20 years — grinned back while shaking Mamdani’s hand and saying, “Thank you,” as the pair greeted each other following a wreath-laying ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in Lower Manhattan.

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. A City Hall spokesperson would only say the pair “exchanged pleasantries.” 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.

“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.

Critics say it’s a “symbol of conquest” and a token of colonial violence. Legend has it, the diamond is “cursed.”

Some critics called Mamdani’s cold shoulder to the king politically unwise. 

“The sitting mayor of New York City shouldn’t give us a history lesson while politicizing the visit of the sitting King of England. He should’ve enthusiastically welcomed him, not reluctantly,” said Ken Frydman, a Democratic operative and former spokesman for former mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Follow live updates on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s socialist agenda and the latest in NYC politics

“We know the history,” he added. “No one has forgotten colonialism.”

Another political veteran said Mamdani should have rolled out the red carpet for the royals instead of doing the bare minimum, especially if he really wants to emulate his idol, former Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.

He is the King of comedy!

7

King Charles III showed off his humorous side during his first state visit to the US as the monarch, delighting American audiences with his wry British wit, including:

• “Now, I know you have big plans for the Moon, Mr President, but I’ve actually checked the papers and I rather suspect it is already part of the Commonwealth, I’m afraid.”
• “Indeed, you recently commented, Mr. President, that if it were not for the United States, European countries would be speaking German. Dare I say that, if it wasn’t for us, you’d be speaking French!”
• “On this occasion, I cannot help noticing the readjustments to the East Wing, Mr. President, following your visit to Windsor Castle last year. And I’m sorry to say that we British, of course, made our own small attempt at real estate redevelopment of the White House in 1814,” referring to the British burning down the building.
• “We call this game ‘Football, Mr. President. And I can only say as the Head of State of five competing countries, I will be watching the matches closely and with great enthusiasm. After all, we always like favourable odds.”

“Mamdani should have invited the royals to Gracie Mansion. The royals are very popular in this country,” said George Arzt, who served as press secretary to former Mayor Ed Koch.

“LaGuardia met the royals and wined and dined them. If he wants to emulate LaGuardia, he should do what LaGuardia did with the royals.”

LaGuardia first greeted then-King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1939 upon their arrival in New York, then joining them by car and taking them to the World’s Fair in Queens, driving past throngs of curious New Yorkers along the way. He also issued an official invitation urging guests to participate in the city’s official welcome of the royal couple.

Former Mayor Robert Wagner, meanwhile, threw a ticker tape parade to welcome Queen Elizabeth II in 1957, and former Mayor Abe Beame’s granddaughter greeted her with a bouquet of flowers as her ship sailed into Manhattan’s Battery Park roughly 20 years later, Politico pointed out.

When the queen visited the Big Apple in July 2010, then-Mayor Bloomberg gave an effusive speech declaring New York was named after Elizabeth’s “first cousin 10 times removed.”

‘[We’re] ’grateful for your friendship, leadership and support,” Bloomberg gushed to her at the British Garden at Hanover Square, the last stop on her one-day tour that also included a speech at the United Nations and a similar ceremony at Ground Zero.

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.

“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 Tuesday, two left-wing politicians from the British Parliament — former UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and pol Bell Ribeiro-Addy — huddled with Hizzoner’s fellow New York City members of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Corbyn, who was forced out of the Labour Party after facing allegations of antisemitism, volunteered at a Mamdani campaign phone bank last fall.

During the exchange at the press conference, Wednesday morning, Mamdani was asked by a reporter what he planned to say to the king.

“If you have a moment to chat with King Charles today down at the World Trade Center Memorial, how do you deepen your role as mayor?  Do you see it as being sort of a polite, diplomatic moment? You just say hello and welcome, or is there anything else you can say to him? Do you have a specific message you might want to deliver?” the reporter asked.

The mayor replied, “I’ll be attending a wreath laying alongside a number of other elected officials, including Governor [Kathy] Hochul and Governor [Mikie] Sherrill. And the focus of that wreath laying is to honor the more than 3,000 New Yorkers who were killed in the horrific terror attacks of September 11, and that’s what I’m really looking to do at that event.”

In a follow-up question, the reporter asked, “You haven’t thought about anything you might say?”

“If I was to speak to the king, separately from that, I would probably encourage him to return the Kohinoor Diamond,” Mamdani responded. 

A few hours later, 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.

The royal couple also shook hands with Hochul and Sherrill, the New Jersey governor, before greeting Mamdani — but appeared to spend more time speaking with the mayor.

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.

“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 2010 when Queen Elizabeth II 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.

— Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy