Subscribers to www.royalgazette.com and other Royal Gazette digital properties are to be asked to change their passwords this week as part of a security upgrade for the website.

A Royal Gazette spokesman said: “In the past year we have made a number of changes to our internal systems and today we are communicating a vital step necessary to complete the security upgrades to our platforms.

“Unfortunately, the new security software could not import existing user passwords and we need to ask all our registered users to change their passwords in order to qualify for continued access to The Royal Gazette platform and its products.

He added: “Once your password is reset you will regain the ability to manage your newsletter settings, comment online and access products that you have subscribed to.”

The password reset will start at 8am tomorrow and registered users will get an e-mail initiating the reset. Users should not try to reset their passwords until they receive the e-mail.