But American diplomats claim that, behind the scenes, the Saudis fully support the American-British call for firmness.
The King and Prime Minister eventually found a modus vivendi; Melbourne applying tact and firmness when called for; while William realised that his First Minister was far less radical in his politics than the King had feared.
The reviewer in The Times commented on his sensitiveness, strength and firmness, and called his performance "work of genuine distinction, not only in its grasp of character, but in its control of language".
It was a mixture of defiance and moderation, a call for peace and for firmness in a time of violence.
This is a device called the TruFirm, which measures the firmness of a green, a fairway or even a bunker.
Some residents booed him, while three police unions called on the government to show firmness and determination in response to the violence and the attacks on police officers.
Freedom of expression is empty if it is not used, but I can barely bring myself to sit down at my desk and read the commentary, let alone add to the pile of hopeful platitudes, lofty sentiments about liberty, calls for solidarity and compassion and moderation, or firmness, or bloody, bloody revenge.
Generous when generosity was called for, firm - sometimes even brutally so - when he felt firmness was needed, he was an astute leader and masterly negotiator.
He says he calls everybody to dialogue "with love but also with firmness against anybody who breaks the law.
President Jacques Chirac called on the French authorities to use "the greatest firmness" in dealing with racist and religious attacks, after heightened tensions in France between Muslims and Jews.
