Letter: Fine Euro-king

Fine Euro-king

Sir: Richard coeur de lion (letters 4, 5, 7 November) was a European par excellence. The admiring French mark his campaign trail against their king with red rampant lions on gold shields, and the Germans valued him highly enough to keep him captive in one of their castles. For his part, Richard raised English taxes for the rebuilding of Chartres Cathedral while fighting the French king, and together with Blondel took troubadour songs to Germany long before the Beatles. French-speaking and French-educated, Richard cannot have understood a word at Westminster. Give the chap a break and send him to Brussels.

MARGARET DAONE

Ramsey, Cambridgeshire