Letters: The Sussexes’ appeals for a quieter life are at glaring odds with their public conduct

SIR – The Duke and Duchess of Sussex went to California to avoid the public glare and live a quieter life. To me, however, it appears they have done nothing except court publicity ever since.

I am fed up with Prince Harry’s endless complaining. Members of the Royal family are born into a life of privilege and, in return, have a duty to serve – a reasonable quid pro quo, given that many people in Britain are struggling to put food on their table or a roof over their heads.

If the Sussexes are not prepared to give up their titles and advantages, they should be stripped of them.

Ailsa Jobson
Barnardiston, Suffolk

SIR – One is always sorry for those involved in family disputes and unhappiness.

However, it is hard to feel much sympathy for someone born into great privilege who has claimed that he wishes to leave behind the trappings of being a member of the Royal family, yet uses his position for financial advantage and to traduce the reputation of his family.

Thank goodness he is the second son of our King. Were he heir to the throne, his behaviour – present and past – would not bode well for the future of the monarchy.

Jonathan Mann
Gunnislake, Cornwall

SIR – I was dismayed to learn that Prince Harry has revealed in his book, Spare, how many members of the Taliban he killed in Afghanistan (report, January 6).

My father was a veteran of D-Day; as a gunner in the Royal Artillery he served in Africa and Sicily. I was an inquisitive child and, while playing with his campaign medals, asked him if he had killed any Germans – to which he responded with a dignified silence.

Like my grandfather, who served in the First World War, he never talked about his time fighting (though often had an amusing anecdote to tell). As a family we were very proud of them both. They knew when to speak and when to stay quiet.

Gillian Taylor
Halstead, Essex

SIR – What does Prince Harry want?

Elizabeth Coomber and Fiona Moore
Newbury, Berkshire

SIR – A long time ago I was told to study the hand that points the finger, then asked: “Where are the other three fingers pointing?”

Prince Harry, please note.

Guy Aston
Doncaster, South Yorkshire

SIR – Harry’s fratricidal attack on his genus

Looks mean-spirited and overzealous.

It’s not credible to claim

Reconciling’s your aim

When you sound so bitter and jealous.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith (Con)
London SW1

SIR – I find it strangely comforting that the Royal family is as dysfunctional as mine.

Marion Best
Crawley, West Sussex

NHS lottery

SIR – In any organisation the size of the NHS (Letters, January 6) there will be examples of good and bad.

I am currently on a waiting list to go on a waiting list for a minor consultation. This is estimated at 29 weeks.

By stark contrast, I emailed my GP surgery with an inquiry of a different nature. Within an hour an appointment had been arranged for later that day. Before lunchtime the consultation had taken place, with the option of an in-person appointment.

Where there is efficient delivery, it deserves to be highlighted from time to time; but where there is not, it must be addressed. It seems to me that there is no shortage of funding for the NHS, nor of highly qualified individuals. The problems are to do with organisation and implementation.

Robert Ashworth
Alderley Edge, Cheshire

The marbles question

SIR – I agree with David Abulafia (Comment, January 5), who warns against loaning the Elgin Marbles to Greece.

The trustees of the British Museum should be ashamed of themselves for disregarding the ethos of the great institution in their care. Bringing together on a single site some of the finest artefacts from every culture promotes tolerance and is a civilising influence. Pandering to the Greek government will merely be taken as a sign of weakness.

Andrew Brunt
Stockport, Cheshire

SIR – I visited the Parthenon in Athens with my parents in 1963.

Even then, the site was very run-down and neglected. A stonemason was chipping rocks away and replacing them with new stone. The old stone was being discarded and the stonemason gave my mother a piece as a souvenir.

Britain has taken good care of the Elgin Marbles since the early 1800s. However, I personally hope we return them to Greece and keep a copy in the British Museum.

Angela Miller
Wolverhampton

SIR – I suggest a fourth component for Lord Frost’s proposed Anglo-Greek partnership (Comment, January 6): free viewing of the returned marbles guaranteed in perpetuity to anyone holding a British passport.

Adrian Williams
Oxford

Britain has done right by the Great Bustard

SIR – I offer congratulations to the Great Bustard Group in restoring this magnificent bird to Salisbury Plain (report and Leading Article, January 4).

The group’s success also helps to salve the curatorial conscience at Salisbury Museum, where, in 1871, one of the last Great Bustards to be shot was stuffed and put on display.

Edward Stevens, who was then the museum’s curator, served its meat at a dinner party, pronouncing “the breast like plover, the thigh not unlike pheasant”.

Peter Saunders
Curator emeritus, Salisbury Museum
Salisbury, Wiltshire

Maths terrors

SIR – Three cheers for Allison Pearson (“Sunak’s maths plan is stupid and insulting”, Comment, January 6). Our Prime Minister has missed the point again.

I, too, experienced the feeling of absolute horror in maths classes at school. I felt stupid and was often ridiculed. I have since managed to quell that feeling, but it can come back under pressure.

The Government should ideally ensure that all children are numerate and capable, for instance, of managing their finances. But I see no reason why this should not be achievable for most by the age of 16, if not before.

Fiona Langan
Wrington, Somerset

SIR – The Prime Minister wants all pupils to study mathematics until the age of 18.

This is already happening in the shockingly small number of schools (14 – of which half are state and half independent) where sixth-form students exclusively take the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.

The 5,250 18-year-olds who graduate from IB schools in Britain every year are therefore the only students who can truly compete in the global workplace because they have maintained the breadth of study and skills development desired by many international employers in the 21st century. IB students are, of course, not only numerate – they have studied six subjects from five key disciplines including science, languages, literature, humanities and social sciences. They develop a global mindset and problem-solving capacity.

Our school has contributed more than 1,000 such young people to the West Midlands economy over the past decade.

Dr Katy Ricks
Chief Master, King Edward’s School Birmingham

HMRC abyss

SIR – I have the utmost sympathy for those unable to contact HMRC by telephone (report, January 4), having tried unsuccessfully to make a payment by that method.

In my frustration I have written a cheque and posted it to the office nearest me, but I dread to think what will happen to it when it descends into the abyss of the Bootle office.

Rhoda Bailey
Congleton, Cheshire

SIR – HMRC confirmed receipt of my tax return on May 12 last year and eventually got round to processing it on November 25, owing me several hundred pounds of overpaid tax.

I received no apology for the slipshod service nor any offer to pay interest on the money I was owed – but if I had failed to meet HMRC’s deadline by one day it would have resulted in an automatic fine.

Peter Lewis
Buckingham

A major public school

SIR – Andrew Wauchope (Letters, January 5), replying to my letter (January 4), suggests that only the seven schools listed in the Public Schools Act of 1868 are “major” and that all other public schools are “minor”.

The Act itself was created to improve the poor governance of the named schools, not lionise them. Notwithstanding the Rugby Group and Eton Group lists of schools, there exists no last word on what a “major” public school is.

A school – public or state – should surely be judged on the overall performance of its alumni. Even a cursory glance at Sherborne School’s alumni would indicate that it is a major public school.

Robin Price
Taunton, Somerset

SIR – The revelations in Prince Harry’s book send a useful message about the dangers of drugs – and an Eton education.

Michael Holman
London N1

Motoring memories

SIR – From the mid-1930s my father owned a 1929 Alvis 12/50 open-tourer called Clara (Letters, January 6), a well-loved member of the family. He drove her daily from Kingston to his job in Guildford until he was promoted to work in London, when he started taking the train.

Clara was our only form of family transport and was used for the weekly shop and weekend forays into the countryside. We holidayed annually in her, setting off soon after dawn for Devon, my brother on one of my mother’s knees while I sat on her other, until we were old enough to be trusted to sit in the back on our own. We were banned from speaking for the first hour of the journey until our father had settled in.

Once, we accidentally tagged on to the end of the Barnstaple Carnival and had pennies thrown at us from the crowd, who believed we were part of the parade, while children shouted “Jalopy” and “Genevieve” at us. Highly embarrassed, my brother and I slid down to hide below eye-level in the back.

Clara was the only car my father ever drove, shunning the more claustrophobic saloon vehicles with their fancy synchro-mesh gears, electronically operated indicators and wind-down windows.

Astrid Bartlett
Shepton Mallet, Somerset

SIR – In the 1960s I was driving my Morris 8 Series E back from an old boys’ reunion in Bloxham when, going downhill at the magnificent speed of 60 mph, I suddenly found I was looking through the steering wheel rather than over the top.

The wooden flooring had partially collapsed and the seat runners had fallen through. Luckily the rest of the seat did not follow.

Mike Lander
Fishbourne, West Sussex

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