How did we ever doubt that the Queen was a Remainer?

So now, nine years after the Brexit referendum, we finally know the answer: Elizabeth II was a Remainer. In a new book, Power and the Palace: The Inside Story of the Monarchy and 10 Downing Street, royal biographer Valentine Low has cracked the secret.

- HARRY MOUNT

Three months before the 2016 Brexit referendum, the late Queen reportedly told a senior minister: "We shouldn't leave the EU." She apparently later added: "It's better to stick with the devil you know."

The revelation puts the lie to The Sun's front-page story before the referendum, headlined "Queen Backs Brexit". At the time, Buckingham Palace took the rare step of complaining about the story, saying the Queen was "politically neutral". The Sun, which had backed Brexit, later published a press watchdog ruling, saying the headline was "significantly misleading".

The Queen's Remainer views align with her character and long life story. Yes, as someone who was highly efficient and not self-indulgent, she was, as one royal insider put it, frustrated by Brussels bureaucracy. David Cameron seconded that, saying: "You always sensed that, like most of her subjects, she thought that European cooperation was necessary and important, but the institutions of the EU sometimes can be infuriating."