Letter: Time to think again about the monarchy

Sir: I recently showed a foreign visitor the sights of Britain, and I realised how (with pride), I had said that a particular building, or family or institution was so many hundred years old; and how precious to our nation.

We wouldn't dream of turning Warwick Castle into a shopping mall; how could we consider vandalising our national family?

Our Queen is the successor of all those colourful, boring, saintly, evil, mad or wise monarchs who gave interest and colour to our history, and whose names we adopt to describe our Jacobean, Edwardian, Elizabethan or Georgian treasures.

The character of a monarch is beside the point; the fact like she is the successor of William the Conqueror is very much the point.

MARJORIE HEMBURY

Leicester