MR Rowan Henderson's quasi-mystical reflections anent the respect which he considers is due to the person of the monarch contain a factual error (March 5). The late ``Tip'' O'Neill, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, did not hail from the Deep South. He was Boston Irish.
While I do not share Mr Rowan Henderson's unbridled enthusiasm for the monarchy, I think the institution deserves two cheers. A hereditary head of state saves us from inflicting the likes of the late Richard Milhous Nixon on ourselves.
If an accident of birth places someone who is eminently unsuitable on the throne, our political establishment has shown itself remarkably adept at removing such a person, a fact to which the cases of James II and Edward VIII testify.
Finally, I am appalled at Mr Ron Davies's ignorance of the recent history of the monarchy. What's his problem regarding Prince Charles's suitability as a king? He has much in common with his ancestors.
George III frequently spoke to the trees in the grounds of Windsor Castle. George V's official biographer, Harold Nicolson, observed of this monarch in the privacy of his diary - here I must paraphrase - that he was a remarkably dull chap who devoted the years he spent waiting to ascend the throne to sticking stamps in his albums and slaughtering prodigious numbers of game birds. George VI was also no slouch when it came to slaughtering game birds.
Poor Charles is merely observing the best traditions of his calling.
John W Elliott,
19 Gordon Avenue,
Bishopton.
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