It is one of 12 in the UK, including the music department at the Royal Holloway, in Egham, to have the title of Regius Professor bestowed upon it.

BBC: University of Surrey

Professor Nigel Leask, regius professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Glasgow, said Burns read widely in the contemporary literature on the subject while he was being trained.

BBC: Robert Burns honoured for work as land surveyor

The title was held by the late historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford, and the 18th Century poet Thomas Gray, who was Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge.

BBC: Open University Milton Keynes professor given royal award

Professor Eileen Scanlon of the educational technology department has been awarded a Regius Professorship in Open Education by the Queen.

BBC: Open University Milton Keynes professor given royal award