diff --git a/code/Controllers/CMSPageHistoryController.php b/code/Controllers/CMSPageHistoryController.php
index b21545d8..7ac7c3f9 100644
--- a/code/Controllers/CMSPageHistoryController.php
+++ b/code/Controllers/CMSPageHistoryController.php
@@ -7,10 +7,12 @@ use SilverStripe\Control\Controller;
 use SilverStripe\Control\HTTPRequest;
 use SilverStripe\Control\HTTPResponse;
 use SilverStripe\Forms\CheckboxField;
+use SilverStripe\Forms\CompositeField;
 use SilverStripe\Forms\FieldList;
 use SilverStripe\Forms\Form;
 use SilverStripe\Forms\FormAction;
 use SilverStripe\Forms\HiddenField;
+use SilverStripe\Forms\HTMLReadonlyField;
 use SilverStripe\Forms\LiteralField;
 use SilverStripe\ORM\FieldType\DBField;
 use SilverStripe\ORM\FieldType\DBHTMLText;
@@ -450,21 +452,16 @@ class CMSPageHistoryController extends CMSMain
         $form->setActions(new FieldList());
         $form->addExtraClass('compare');
 
-        // Comparison views shouldn't be editable.
-        // Its important to convert fields *before* loading data,
-        // as the comparison output is HTML and not valid values for the various field types
-        $readonlyFields = $form->Fields()->makeReadonly();
-        $form->setFields($readonlyFields);
-
         $form->loadDataFrom($record);
         $form->loadDataFrom(array(
             "ID" => $id,
             "Version" => $fromVersion,
         ));
 
-        foreach ($form->Fields()->dataFields() as $field) {
-            $field->dontEscape = true;
-        }
+        // Comparison views shouldn't be editable.
+        // As the comparison output is HTML and not valid values for the various field types
+        $readonlyFields = $this->transformReadonly($form->Fields());
+        $form->setFields($readonlyFields);
 
         return $form;
     }
@@ -475,4 +472,22 @@ class CMSPageHistoryController extends CMSMain
         $crumbs[0]->Title = _t('CMSPagesController.MENUTITLE', 'Pages');
         return $crumbs;
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Replace all data fields with HTML readonly fields to display diff
+     *
+     * @param FieldList $fields
+     * @return FieldList
+     */
+    public function transformReadonly(FieldList $fields)
+    {
+        foreach ($fields->dataFields() as $field) {
+            if ($field instanceof HiddenField) {
+                continue;
+            }
+            $newField = $field->castedCopy(HTMLReadonlyField::class);
+            $fields->replaceField($field->getName(), $newField);
+        }
+        return $fields;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/tests/controller/CMSPageHistoryControllerTest.php b/tests/controller/CMSPageHistoryControllerTest.php
index d85acda5..cbfbe74d 100755
--- a/tests/controller/CMSPageHistoryControllerTest.php
+++ b/tests/controller/CMSPageHistoryControllerTest.php
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 <?php
 
+use SilverStripe\Forms\FieldGroup;
+use SilverStripe\Forms\FieldList;
+use SilverStripe\Forms\HiddenField;
+use SilverStripe\Forms\HTMLReadonlyField;
+use SilverStripe\Forms\TextField;
 use SilverStripe\ORM\Versioning\Versioned;
 use SilverStripe\CMS\Controllers\CMSPageHistoryController;
 use SilverStripe\Dev\FunctionalTest;
@@ -152,4 +157,33 @@ class CMSPageHistoryControllerTest extends FunctionalTest
         $this->assertThat($checkbox[0], $this->logicalNot($this->isNull()));
         $this->assertEquals('checked', (string) $checkbox[0]->attributes()->checked);
     }
+    
+    public function testTransformReadonly()
+    {
+        /** @var CMSPageHistoryController $history */
+        $history = singleton(CMSPageHistoryController::class);
+        
+        $fieldList = FieldList::create([
+            FieldGroup::create('group', [
+                TextField::create('childField', 'child field'),
+            ]),
+            TextField::create('field', 'field', 'My <del>value</del><ins>change</ins>'),
+            HiddenField::create('hiddenField', 'hidden field'),
+        ]);
+        
+        $newList = $history->transformReadonly($fieldList);
+    
+        $field = $newList->dataFieldByName('field');
+        $this->assertTrue($field instanceof HTMLReadonlyField);
+        $this->assertContains('<ins>', $field->forTemplate());
+
+        $groupField = $newList->fieldByName('group');
+        $this->assertTrue($groupField instanceof FieldGroup);
+
+        $childField = $newList->dataFieldByName('childField');
+        $this->assertTrue($childField instanceof HTMLReadonlyField);
+
+        $hiddenField = $newList->dataFieldByName('hiddenField');
+        $this->assertTrue($hiddenField instanceof HiddenField);
+    }
 }