A secretive meeting involving some of the most influential figures in Western Europe and North America will take place in Watford next month, the Watford Observer can reveal.

The Bilderberg Group will be meeting in The Grove Hotel between June 6 and June 8.

Around 100 invited dignitaries from around the world will descend on the town for a three-day conference and the entire 220-room hotel is booked out for the event.

The guestlist for the "small, flexible, informal and off-the-record international forum" is a closely guarded secret but previous participants are believed to include Prime Minister David Cameron, his predecessors Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher and Gordon Brown as well as Chancellor George Osborne, Henry Kissinger and first in line to the throne Prince Charles.

A Hertfordshire Police spokesman confirmed the event was taking place but declined to comment on operational policing details.

The spokesman added that the force would "facilitate people who want to undertake peaceful protest."

The group got their name from the Hotel de Bilderberg in Holland where the first meeting was held in May 1954.