When 140 have already attended a memorial service, why limit the Duke’s funeral to only 30?
SIR – The coronavirus legislation makes no sense when there were 140 people at a service of remembrance in Canterbury Cathedral, but only 30 will be allowed at the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral in St George’s Chapel, Windsor. Jane Bell
Fortrose, Ross-shire
SIR – To allow only 30 guests at the Duke’s funeral is shameful.
The Prime Minister should take this opportunity, not only as a mark of respect, but also because the data now show the virus has dramatically reduced, to announce that restrictions on funerals are to be lifted.
Alan Billingsley
Whitworth, Lancashire
SIR – It would be a tremendously powerful mark of respect for the extraordinary life and the unstinting service of the Duke of Edinburgh if the BBC were to broadcast his funeral on Saturday without commentary. Brigadier Mike Wharmby (retd) North Warnborough, Hampshire
SIR – I can think of no better epitaph than Matthew 25:21: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
Gp Capt David Greenway RAF (retd) Andover, Hampshire
SIR – The more I hear about the Duke and his activities, the more I realise I was unaware of quite how much he instigated and achieved.
What an extraordinary man he was. Fiona Macfarlane
Bath, Somerset
SIR – It has been said that the Duke of Edinburgh was well read. My father told me many years ago of a dinner where the Duke was to reply to the toast to the guests.
The proposer of the toast remarked on how many different roles Prince Philip succeeded in filling and said that some lines of Dryden seemed apt:
A man so various, that he seemed to be Not one, but all mankind’s epitome.
In reply Prince Philip said of these lines that he was sure they had been well meant but that the proposer should have mentioned how the poem went on:
Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong,
Was everything by starts, and
nothing long;
But, in the course of one revolving moon, Was chemist, fiddler, statesman,
and buffoon
John Watherston
London SW1
SIR – In the summer of 1961, I was the dental officer on board HMS Tiger and we were the guard ship at Cowes Regatta. We held a cocktail party on the quarterdeck and a royal party came over from the Royal Yacht Britannia, including Prince Philip and Princesses Marina and Alexandra.
During the evening Prince Philip was meeting some of the officers and, spying the brick-red colour between my lieutenant’s stripes, said: “Oh, here’s a rare bird. I presume you know the motto of this ship?”
“I certainly do sir,” I replied. “Well, you’re the only one who can accomplish that,” he said, and laughed as he walked away.
The motto of HMS Tiger is Quis eripiet dentes, which means, “Who shall draw my teeth?”
Malcolm Parrish
Tetbury, Gloucestershire
SIR – Ten years ago, my four-year-old
daughter was chosen to present a bouquet to the Queen at Canongate Kirk.
The presentation took place at the end of a long service. When my daughter stepped forward to do her duty, her rather shy twin brother hid behind my skirts. The Queen was all smiles and gentleness as she accepted the proffered bunch. The Duke of Edinburgh, upright and elegant, one step behind, played peek-a-boo with my son.
Two new young fans. One impressed mother.
Dominique Davidson
Edinburgh
SIR – Perhaps his greatest asset was a talent to be amused.
Mark Solon London E1
SIR – Until quite recently I would have agreed with Stuart Moss (Letters, April 11) about Prince Harry’s suitability to oversee the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme. Now I don’t.
Barbara Whitaker
Halton Village, Buckinghamshire
SIR – Forty years ago I, like many young people before and since, was invited to Buckingham Palace to receive my Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award.
Recipients were permitted a guest and, as my parents worked overseas, I wanted my sister Rachael to accompany me. This required parental input as we were both still at school.
I set out to the telegram office for that purpose. “Would love Rachael to come to Buckingham Palace,” was quite expensive, so I shortened it to “Love R come Buck”, and kept some change in my pocket.
The telegram my parents received from their son, 6,000 miles away, was: “Lover come back.” You can imagine the rest.
Mark Tyler Saint-quentin-de- caplong, France
SIR – As sometime chairman of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal, I have been puzzled by descriptions in the media of that nice man Prince Philip as a foreigner.
As a direct descendant of Sophia, Electress of Hanover, he was born a British subject. At least one attorneygeneral was confused by the point but the law was settled by the House of Lords in 1957 in the case of Attorneygeneral v Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover.
Presumably the issue was considered before Prince Philip was awarded the King’s Commission. Michael Shrimpton
Andover, Hampshire
SIR – Readers may be interested to know that the Duke was a follower of letters in The Daily Telegraph.
As Colonel in Chief of the Queen’s Royal Hussars, he attended our annual dinner on the day that a letter I had written about “poppy etiquette” was published. He leant across at dinner and simply said: “Saw your letter.”
Lt Col Charles Carter (retd)
Llanteg, Pembrokshire
SIR – Surely, an appropriate memorial to the Duke of Edinburgh would be a royal yacht rather than a statue, which might, in the future, offend the politically correct and be defaced or pulled down.
Patricia Harrison Stebbing, Essex