As the Crown Equerry, Major Simon Robinson was one of the Queen’s most trusted and favoured aides.

But then in March 2011, Major Robinson quit Buckingham Palace ­under something of a cloud, having split from his wife amid allegations, strongly denied, of an affair.

Now five years on, feathers appear to have been ruffled in his new post as secretary of the Carlton Club, the 184-year-old home to the Conservative ­Party establishment.