Letter: Respect for Royal Family's grief

Sir: One of the saddest aspects of the tragic death of Diana, Princess of Wales, is the bitter and unjustified hostility towards HM the Queen, HRH the Prince of Wales and the Royal Family which has surfaced through the press and the television over the last few days. This uninformed criticism of a family in mourning, struggling like any other which has had to face sudden and unexpected tragedy, does no justice whatever to the memory of the Princess.

It is a sad reflection of our times that the Queen, the Prince of Wales and other members of the Royal Family, who for so long have worked tirelessly for the well-being of all in this country and many abroad, should be subject to the disedifying outbursts which some newspapers and television news programmes are delighting in putting before us.

Such monumental disrespect and lack of manners at this most difficult of times does not in any way reflect the "exquisite manners" of the Princess, to which a friend of hers referred recently in a tribute to her.

The Rev PETER LYNESS

London W6