Anti-monarchist students have burnt a Union Flag in Kings College’s Chetwynd Court during the royal wedding service, prompting outrage.

King’s College Student Union (KCSU) has been quick to condemn the gesture, calling it “needlessly divisive and violent”.

Witnesses have not revealed the identities of those responsible, and the identities of those responsible are still unknown. An investigation is ongoing, with allegations that a second flag was also burnt in the college later on that day.

Flag burning is not illegal in the UK as a respected as a form of ‘symbolic speech’, however it is considered anti-social and highly offensive to many.

However, the flag in question was the property of King’s Ents and the college’s ents officer Matt Merrick has said he considers it “theft and arson against KCSU property”. He stressed that the act, which took place less than a meter from a fire exit from the bar to the court, constituted a serious fire hazard and put students in danger.

The college is known for its left-wing politics, and the student union recently voted to continue to allow a hammer and sickle to be hung in the college bar, despite protests.

Some students have claimed they were offended by what they felt was monarchist propaganda decorating the bar, and that the Anglican nature of the event had violated the college’s constitution, which prohibits religious endorsement.

While the constitutionality of the party is still in debate, Merrick claimed there was not widespread support for the protest amongst the student body dismissing the protestors as part of “a core group of about 20 or 30 republicans here that do protests and that kind of thing”.

He added, "It's embarrassing for a college and university that on the day the heir to the throne becomes the duke of Cambridge we have students burning the national flag. It's a small minority who have done this".