MINISTERS will have placed the King in an awkward position if the Prime Minister’s new Brexit deal founders, according to a leading Royal commentator.

Rafe Heydel-Mankoo told GB News: “The key issue here is timing. We know that the monarchy is the heavy artillery in our arsenal when it comes to our soft power status.

“But for the King to actually meet with the head of Britain’s opposing side, when the ink on this Windsor Framework isn’t even dry, the details haven’t been combed over with a fine tooth comb by all of the parties and its implications haven’t been considered by all of the relevant and interested parties.

“That’s where the problem here really lies.”

In a discussion with Alastair Stewart, he said: “The cardinal rule of constitutional monarchy is the sovereign never gets involved in political matters, until they have been agreed, and finalised.

“So in Parliament, you never have the sovereign involve themselves to political legislation until it’s received Parliament’s approval, and then they give their royal assent

“And so by being seen so closely involved with this stage, you can only take it as the King’s endorsement of this framework.”

Mr Heydel-Mankoo continued: “That’s very unwise when there are significant voices amongst Brexiteers, both here and of course in Northern Ireland, who are uneasy about all of this.

“It’s not just the meeting, though, between the king and Ursula von der Leyen. It’s also the very name of this.

“It’s the Windsor framework, which I think was deliberately done by the Government to associate the monarchy, the most iconic name and symbol of the monarchy with this deal.”

He added: “I think this was deliberately done because Unionists in Northern Ireland and in Britain are both concerned about the future of the Union.

“By so closely linking this now through the meeting and through the name of the framework to the monarchy, to the King, it’s almost as if the Government is daring them to vote it down.

“This is a test of their loyalty to the Crown and to the union and I think that’s a deeply dishonourable tactic by the Government.

“We can only hope and pray that this deal doesn’t go seriously awry, because the King will then have been placed in a very awkward position.”