Buckingham Palace insists the Queen is politically neutral in the EU referendum campaign, after a report that she had expressed strongly Eurosceptic views

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Buckingham Palace has insisted the Queen is “politically neutral” in the EU referendum campaign, after a report said that she had expressed strong Eurosceptic views.

The Sun said she vented her anger with Brussels at the strongly pro-EU Nick Clegg during a lunch at Windsor Castle when he was deputy prime minister. The former Liberal Democrat leader dismissed the report as “nonsense” while the palace said it would not comment on “spurious, anonymously sourced claims”.

The paper quoted a “senior source” as saying that people who heard their conversation “were left in no doubt at all about the Queen’s views on European integration”.

“It was really something and it went on for quite a while. The EU is clearly something Her Majesty feels passionately about,” the source was quoted as saying.

However, a palace spokesman said: “The Queen remains politically neutral as she has for 63 years. We will not comment on spurious, anonymously sourced claims. The referendum is a matter for the British people to decide.”

Clegg wrote on his Twitter feed that the story was “nonsense”, and he had “no recollection of this happening”.

A spokesman for Clegg added: “This is categorically untrue. Nick has no recollection of this conversation and it is not the sort of conversation you forget.”

Nick Clegg (@nick_clegg) Re Sun story. As I told the journalist this is nonsense. I've no recollection of this happening & its not the sort of thing I would forget

Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) SUN EXCLUSIVE: Queen backs Brexit #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/dAmjFMOl1c