Buckingham Palace has complained to the press watchdog over the Sun newspaper’s article claiming the Queen backed “Brexit” from the European Union, the BBC reports.

The Sun quotes anonymous sources, one of whom claims to have witnessed a “bust-up” between the Queen and pro-EU former Deputy PM Nick Clegg in 2011.

It says the Queen told Mr Clegg the EU was “heading in the wrong direction”.

Earlier, the palace insisted the Queen was “politically neutral”. Mr Clegg called the story “nonsense”.

Under the headline, “Queen backs Brexit”, the Sun said the Queen’s exchange with Mr Clegg at a lunch in 2011 left “no room for doubt about her passionate feelings over Europe”.

The paper says the Queen also revealed her feelings about Europe during a separate conversation with MPs at Buckingham Palace “a few years ago”.