German Chancellor Angela Merkel was spotted looking genuinely perplexed as she wondered aloud “which Franz” Queen Máxima of the Netherlands was talking about as the pair chatted recently outside the UN headquarters in New York.

The Dutch royal was filmed by a reporter as she spoke with the German leader, and was trying to discuss the fact that she had brought up issues around the women’s movement with “France.” Merkel struggled to work out who this “Franz” was, exactly.

Queen Maxima of The Netherlands explains to German Chancellor Merkel in New York she recently spoke to France about women's rights.Merkel: Which Franz? 😂😂😂pic.twitter.com/MDuI033Rno — Harald Doornbos (@HaraldDoornbos) September 29, 2019

As the explanation dawns on both of them, they start to laugh.

Some Twitter users were quick to blame Merkel or Máxima in turn for some kind of “embarrassing” linguistic failure, with one person even describing the situation as “kafkaesque.”

Others though suggested that perhaps the misunderstanding was born of their different outlooks, with Merkel thinking in terms of individual people and Máxima thinking “sovereign-style” of states.

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