SIR Roy Strong, one of the most colourful chroniclers of high society and the British arts scene, has donated his entire archive to the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

The archive consists of hundreds of letters and postcards, some from royal figures such as the Queen Mother, the Prince of Wales and Princess Margaret, as well as major literary figures such as Sir Cecil Beaton.

Sir Roy, a former director of the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum, became almost as famous for his flamboyant dress sense and social life as for his distinguished career in the arts.

His diaries, which will be included in the archive, caused as sensation when they were published in 1997.

But Sir Roy said he did not want his correspondence with the members of the Royal Family to be made available to the public until after his death.

Letters from such illustrious society figures as Gianni Versace, Antonia Fraser and Lady Diana Cooper will provide colourful source material for future historians and writers.

Sir Roy said: “I am glad the material has come to such a safe and accessible place. At 74, you can’t leave decisions like this any longer.

“I hope it will give people some amusement and some information. I think the archive provides an interesting social panorama of a certain period. They record the progress of a particular generation of people.”

Almost 150 scrapbooks capture his marriage to Julia Trevelyan Oman, the distinguished designer from Oxford, whom he married in 1971, forming a celebrated partnership in the arts. Her father, Sir Charles Oman, was a Conservative MP for the University of Oxford constituency from 1919 to 1935. Sir Roy had earlier donated his wife’s family archive to the Bodleian.

Sir Roy and his wife were responsible for creating one of the country’s most famous private gardens, The Laskett in Herefordshire.

Sir Roy’s archive contains 100 volumes tracing the gradual transformation of a field to what is recognised as the largest formal garden to be laid out since 1945, recorded in thousands of photographs and sketches.

His letters include complete runs of correspondence with close friends who made an impact on his life, such as his history teacher at his grammar school, with whom he kept in touch between 1953 and 2002.

Sarah Thomas, Bodley’s Librarian, said: “Sir Roy Strong has shown extraordinary generosity.”

The archive is to be catalogued and will be open to researchers in part in the near future. A large public display is planned in the Bodleian’s Old Library in 2011.

The Strong archive follows the gift last year of the archives of the writer Alan Bennett.