A Barking man said he was told by a police officer that he risked being arrested if he wrote “not my King” on a placard in London.

Paul Powlesland, 36, a barrister and nature rights activist, travelled into the centre of the capital on Monday afternoon (September 12).

He told the PA news agency: "I just thought I’d take a blank piece of paper down there.

“I held that up and various police officers spoke to me and I tried to find out from some of them, whether if I wrote, ‘not my King’ on it, they would arrest me.

“They didn’t know or wouldn’t say, and then I went for a little walk around and went down towards Downing Street. And then that officer came up to me and began that conversation effectively asking for my details and then saying, if you write ‘not my King’ on it, then we may well arrest you for public order offences, being offensive.”

Mr Powlesland recorded part of his interaction with the officer and shared it on social media, where it was viewed more than 700,000 times.

“Why would you ask for my details?” he can be heard asking the officer, who said “I wanted to make sure you didn’t have bail conditions (inaudible).”

The officer replied: “You said you were going to write stuff on it, that may offend people, around the King. It may offend someone.

“Who’s that going to offend?” asked Mr Powlesland.

“I don’t know, someone may be offended by it,” replied the officer.

The Met’s deputy assistant commissioner Stuart Cundy said: “We’re aware of a video online showing an officer speaking with a member of the public outside the Palace of Westminster.

“The public absolutely have a right to protest and we have been making this clear to all officers involved in the extraordinary policing operation currently in place and we will continue to do so."

Mr Powlesland said he was not arrested, but added that his interaction had only strengthened his feelings.

“It feels like a very odd time, when there does seem to be… using the respect that is due to the Queen and her death, as a way of silencing any dissent over Charles’s accession,” he said.

“Initially, these things make you feel scared, but afterwards, it actually makes me feel more inclined to go out there and to protest to uphold our rights."

Reporting by Press Association.