A member of the British royal family has been targeted in an alleged “sex and drugs” blackmail plot and the Scotland Yard, investigating into it, has arrested two men in this connection.

The royal — who cannot be named for legal reasons — called in the police after being approached by the two alleged blackmailers in August, according to The Sunday Times.

The men demanded 50,000 pounds not to publicise a video, which they claimed showed the royal engaged in a sex act. The case is first of its kind in more than 100 years that a member of the royal family has been victim of blackmail.

The Scotland Yard in a statement on Saturday night said: “Two men appeared at the City of Westminster Magistrates’ court September 13, each charged with one count of blackmail.”

During telephone calls to the royal’s office, the suspected blackmailers claimed to have evidence suggesting that the royal had supplied an aide with an envelope containing cocaine. They claimed they had a video tape showing the aide snorting the drug, it said.

After the approach from the two men, the royal tipped off Scotland Yard. Detectives then set up an undercover operation to trap the suspects. On September 11, two men were arrested in a police sting at a London hotel. They were seized as they played what they claimed was the sex video in a suite at the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane in Mayfair, it said.

The duo thought they were showing the film to a member of the royal’s staff. In fact, the man they met was an undercover detective from Scotland Yard’s kidnap and blackmail unit, the paper said. Neither the royal nor any of the witnesses in the case can be identified after a judge issued a gagging order, it said.

According to the report, the video contained unsubstantiated allegations about other members of the royal family, including the Queen.

In 1891, the future Edward VII discussed with his solicitor paying off two prostitutes he had visited, in return for letters he had written to them.