麻豆社

Julia Baird, an Australian author, claims that a senior archivist at the Royal Archive asked her to remove passages from her new book, Victoria: The Queen, that related to a saucy encounter between the Highland servant John Brown and his employer Queen Victoria.

Ms Baird submitted her manuscript to the assistant keeper of archives, a requirement under a contract she signed when she visited to conduct research.

Alex von Tunzelmann is a historian and author, and she told The World at One that she was one of many historians who had been asked to remove passages in their work, adding "historians are supposed to be impartial and not be censored in this way".

Hugo Vickers is a royal biographer and says when he was writing a biography of Prince Philip's Mother, he was able to "argue his corner" in terms of certain stories staying in the book.

(Photo: Royal archives housed at Windsor Castle Credit: Getty Images)