UUP leader Doug Beattie has suggested Arlene Foster was "mean-spirited" in her criticism of media coverage of Sinn Féin meeting King Charles III.
He was reacting after Dame Arlene hit out at the "intense" coverage of Sinn Féin meeting the King during his first visit to Northern Ireland as monarch.
The former DUP leader said it was "not really big news" as Sinn Féin representatives have met the late Queen Elizabeth II and the new King on "many occasions".
Read more: DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson insists Union has not been weakened by Queen's death
Writing in the Express, she said: "The coverage got so intense about Sinn Féin on some mainstream broadcasts that you would be forgiven for thinking the visit was about them and not marking the death of our sovereign and the first visit of her successor!"
Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O'Neill and other Stormont party leaders met with Charles on Tuesday at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down, to express their sympathies on the death of his mother.
The Stormont Assembly Speaker, Sinn Féin's Alex Maskey, delivered a message of condolence on behalf of the people of Northern Ireland.
Dame Arlene wrote that "far too much in my view" had been said about the meeting between Sinn Féin members and the new King.
Reacting to her comments, Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie said he believed there was "real compassion" shown from all the main Stormont parties.
"I think it would be mean-spirited to criticise anybody for being respectful," he told the BBC's Nolan Show.
He added: "If anybody thought that there wouldn't be intense media scrutiny of Sinn Féin shaking the hand of our new King or a Sinn Féin Speaker giving the words of condolence, if people didn't realise that would be the case, then I'm not too sure what they thought.
"We're here because of the position we're in. We have no government. We should have held the meeting with the King in parliament and it should have been the first and deputy first minister who gave the condolences to the King, but we're not in that situation, we're in a different situation, so we had to come up with something slightly different, and this is what we had to come up with."
However, TUV leader Jim Allister supported Dame Arlene's viewpoint, saying that some media "totally lost the run of themselves in their focus".
He argued there was little attention given to how Sinn Féin "deliberately and consciously snubbed" the new monarch at the weekend "by refusing to attend the act of proclamation".
In her article, Dame Arlene also remarked on Irish president Michael D Higgins joining a memorial service at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast reflecting on the Queen's life.
She said: "The President of Ireland, as he is styled, who could not bring himself to attend an ecumenical service to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland last year was present on this occasion to remember our gracious Queen. Progress of sorts."
Mr Higgins was at the centre of a diplomatic row last year after he declined an invitation to the Northern Ireland centenary service, saying he believed the event was not politically neutral.
Dame Arlene said the Queen's historic visit to the Republic in 2011 "showed tremendous leadership in reaching out to those who would not be royalists by nature".
"She did all that despite the pain that she had endured personally when the IRA murdered Lord Louis Mountbatten in Co Sligo in 1979."
The former DUP leader said the Queen "chose the Christian path of love and forgiveness" and "influenced so many to show tolerance and respect for difference".
Dame Arlene said that in his visit to Northern Ireland, King Charles "got his message across about continuing the work of his mother".
She added: "The King, as Prince of Wales, has been working quietly on reconciliation projects for years in Northern Ireland and it is important to acknowledge that, because some may not realise the good work that has been going on under his leadership."
What do you think? Was the focus wrongly on Sinn Fein meeting King Charles? Let us know your views in the Comments section below.
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