Letter: The press has slipped on the Royal soap

AT THE risk of reflecting the obvious, I can't help feeling that the Royal Family is on to a winner (Lynn Barber column, 30 August). Since its primary function, other than as a revenue-earning tourist attraction, is to represent contemporary family values for the entertainment and enlightenment of us lesser mortals, it is clearly doing a splendid job. It was surely the ludicrous fantasy of the 'fairy-tale' weddings that threatened to render it irrelevant and unacceptable.

Now, a reality we all can recognise has returned the Royal Family to its proper place as the mirror of the nation, and demonstrated, once again, the heart- warming truth that even money can't buy you love. With royalty's new readiness to accept personal taxation, there is no reason why the House of Windsor should not continue to play to happy audiences for years to come.

Tony Walton

Hove, East Sussex