Letter: King Charles III: no natural defects in his body politic

Sir: Your leading article 'Divorced, but still fit to play the King' (8 December) states 'the only formal restraint on Prince Charles's private life will be that he may not marry a Catholic'. Is this not the nub of the matter? Why did he not marry Camilla Parker Bowles - a Catholic? Why earlier, did he not marry the Catholic Princess of Luxembourg?

And a final question: what is it in the coronation oath that the Archdeacon of York fears that he could not be trusted to uphold? One suspects it is the clause which requires him to 'maintain the Protestant Reformed Religion' and 'the settlement of the Church of England . . . as by law established'.

Yours sincerely,

ANNA RIST

Cambridge

8 December