There’s been a sense of deja vu in Westminster in recent days, with a Tory leader under pressure on Europe from the right of his party. As Rishi Sunak tries to finalise a new deal on the Northern Ireland protocol, Tory Brexiteers have been questioning the wisdom of the Prime Minister’s strategy. But now there is a brand new element: the royals.

After excited chatter earlier that Sunak could unveil his deal tomorrow that no longer appears to be the case. Reports have emerged from Sky and the Times tonight that the government was planning to have the King host Ursula von der Leyen at Windsor before Sunak unveiled his changes to the Protocol. According to the Times, the president of the European Commission was due to travel to Britain on Saturday to announce the deal with Sunak and separately Charles III at Windsor. Senior officials in Whitehall even reportedly discussed calling the deal the ‘Windsor Agreement.’ But the plans were scrapped when news of the audience began to leak earlier today.

This has led to concerns that the move could have been interpreted as Charles giving his blessing to the negotiations or even endorsing the deal altogether. Such claims have not gone down well with the DUP, for whom the Protocol is an existential question. Lord Dodds reacted angrily to the Sky report, tweeting:

To plan for politicising the Monarchy in this way is very serious and reinforces the questions about No 10’s political judgment over the Protocol

Allies of Sunak deny that the Prime Minister would have tried to play politics with the royals. Still, it was curious timing for a general chinwag. Talk about a right royal row…