Letter: The Fayeds, like the Windsors and Spencers, deserve peace

How saddening that your thoughtful assessments were marred by Henry Porter's jaundiced account of Mohamed Al Fayed. If the grieving Spencer and Windsor families warrant temporary respite from public scrutiny, his surely merits no less.

Both inside and outside Britain this lack of generosity may appear all too telling. We live in times of persistent tension between the Arab/Islamic and Western worlds, fed often by unsympathetic treatment in the western media. Even the serious Arab press is now expressing popular speculation that the British establishment somehow conspired to prevent an alliance between Diana and Dodi Fayed. Perhaps, ironically, her affection for him will do more in the end to foster understanding between the two faith groups in the public mind than all the considered, long-term initiatives of her former husband.

Hilary Gilbert

Duffield, Derbyshire