You couldn't make it up dept. - no, you really could NOT make anything like this up
I've heard about the Polish presidential flag, eagle and all, being flown upside down during a state visit. I've heard about the Belgian PM singing the French national anthem in place of his own. I've heard of the Polish interpreter whose incompetence nearly caused an international incident when President Carter (typically) visited Communist Poland. But surely something like THIS cannot possibly have happened, can it?