Nick Clegg says claim Queen told him of her Eurosceptic views is '˜nonsense'

A report by The Sun said she vented her anger with Brussels to the pro-EU Mr Clegg during a lunch at Windsor Castle in 2011 when he was deputy prime minister.

Mr Clegg said on Twitter: “As I told the journalist this is nonsense. I’ve no recollection of this happening and it’s not the sort of thing I would forget.”

Buckingham Palace has also written to the press watchdog to register a complaint over the story.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “We can confirm that we have this morning written to the chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation to register a complaint about the front page story in today’s Sun newspaper.

“The complaint relates to Clause One of the Editors’ Code of Practice.”

Clause 1 in the code relates to accuracy and states: “The press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information or images, including headlines not supported by the text.”

It requires that ‘significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distortion must be corrected, promptly and with due prominence, and - where appropriate - an apology published’.

The Sun’s front page headline read ‘Queen backs Brexit’ and 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’.

The Palace 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.”