Letter: Nothing mad about Alice

ALASTAIR Forbes, as quoted by Graham Ball, goes beyond what is reasonable in criticising the Duke of Edinburgh's mother, whom he describes as "quite off her rocker for the last 20 years of her life" ("Soames critic hits at Royal 'loonies' ", 26 November).

There is no proof of this. It is not irrational to become a nun or to start a religious Order. Her "madness" did not prevent Princess Alice from saving the lives of many Holocaust victims. I was present, representing British Jewry, at a ceremony in Jerusalem last year when Prince Philip received an award by Yad Vashem on behalf of his late mother.

The honour was well deserved. I met a family who spoke in glowing terms of the way Princess Alice endangered her life to save them. One wishes that there had been more such "mad" people during the Second World War.

Sir Sigmund Sternberg

London N3