Putting the squeeze on

SIR – Sophia Money-Coutts ( Sunday, November 18) mentions the Prince of Wales’s supposed preference for toothpaste to be squeezed onto his brush by a member of staff.

Before the war, this practice wasn’t uncommon but it was inconvenient. As a young guest in his aunt’s house, my father used to find his toothbrush ready-loaded when he went up to change for dinner.

This posed a problem. If he did what was expected and cleaned his teeth, it ruined the taste of his pre-prandial cocktail. If he left the brush as it was, however, he risked offending the staff or – worse – appearing slovenly. He compromised by rinsing the brush without using it, leaving it ready to be re-loaded during dinner. Catriona Chase

Halesworth, Suffolk