The UK ambassador to Argentina has been summoned to explain to officials in Buenos Aires why part of Antarctica has been renamed in honor of the Queen, BBC News reported.

John Freeman was handed a formal protest note "strongly rejecting" the UK's claim to a piece of land known as the British Antarctic Territory.

The southern section was named Queen Elizabeth Land by Foreign Secretary William Hague on Tuesday, Dec 18.

The note claimed the area was part of the Argentine Antarctic sector.

It stated that the Argentine government "strongly rejected" Britain's right to rename the area.

Queen Elizabeth Land - which at 169,000 sq miles is almost twice the size of the UK - was previously unnamed, according to the British Foreign Office.

The UK first staked claim to the British Antarctic Territory in 1908. However, both Argentina and Chile insist they have prior claims to large areas of the same land.