Letter: Royal technophobia

Sir: Your leader of 9 October is wrong in stating that Queen Mary never used a telephone. As she herself recorded, the King, in London, kept her, in Balmoral, fully informed by telephone about the government crisis of 1931. You also omitted to mention that the Princess Royal's comments about the use of computers in schools were endorsed by none other than Bill Gates.

Technophobia certainly does not, as you suggest, run in the Royal Family. Queen Victoria, in contrast to her Prime Minister, Melbourne, was an enthusiast for the newly invented passenger railway; her husband, Albert, probably did more than any single person last century to promote innovation; and her eldest son, the Prince of Wales, was quick to endorse the motor car. The Queen's father, later George VI, learned to fly in 1919, a time when it was a highly risky business.

DONALD FOREMAN

Secretary

The Constitutional Monarchy Association

London E4