Royal racism is about as surprising as Boxing Day following Christmas

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The Royal family has been criticised in the past for its approach to diversity (PA)

One thing I do not know is whether Lady Susan Hussey is considered part of the royal family inner circle or outer circle and in all honesty, I don’t care.

One thing I do know is that her persistent racially offensive questioning of Ngozi Fulani is unacceptable – although I must add that it surprises me about as much as Boxing Day following Christmas Day does.

Unlikely as it sounds, I did find one thing that we must be grateful for. Just imagine if the above lady-in-waiting had earlier met either the new prime minister or the London mayor with these or similar words: “I assume you arrived from India before the pandemic.” That’s one almighty rumpus avoided!

Robert Boston

Kingshill, Kent

The aristocracy of Vulgaria

Not wishing to make light of an extremely disturbing episode, I couldn’t help but look at the photograph used to accompany the article about racism at Buckingham Palace, and wonder if The Independent had mistakenly used a still from the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The aristocracy of Vulgaria on show at a party for Baron Bomburst.

Rich, old people completely detached from the way the real world works – except what happened on Tuesday was no script from a children’s film. It did, however, show clearly how our royal family and its entourage are no different to the stereotypical, ridiculous inhabitants of a fictional land.

Karen Brittain

York

A question she had probably been asked all her life

Recently, while waiting for my Covid jab at a walk-in clinic, I fell into conversation with a Black nurse. I asked the usual questions: how many jabs today, has it been a long day? To which she replied that she’d started at 7.30 am and was looking forward to 4.30 as at her age, it’s a long day.

I asked “where have you come from?” Her immediate reply was “where was I born?” I was asking whether she had travelled far from home to get to work, but she was responding to the question she’d probably been asked all her life.

I knew immediately I had been clumsy in my attempt at small talk. I’ll be more careful in future.

Gary Kirk

Burnley

Put your trust not in princes

Lady Hussey’s fall from grace reflects the monarchy’s need to preserve the institution no matter what. The withdrawal of the offer of sanctuary by George V to the last Czar and his family is one example of a monarchy threatened ruthlessly casting aside ties of blood and kinship.

Lady Hussey can count herself fortunate that she will live to tell the tale and reflect on the perils of giving loyal service to the monarchy. “Put not your trust in princes” might be her rueful conclusion.

James Bell

Belgium

More evidence of Brexit failures

Next year is going to be a tough year for the UK economy. Sleepwalking into recession and delivering the worst economic performance of all G7 countries, with Brexit a fundamental cause of this.

Further evidence of the damaging impact of Brexit (if any more was needed), is the recent research by the Centre for Business Prosperity at Aston University. This has found that withdrawal from the European Union and the introduction of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement has resulted in a 22.9 per cent slump in UK exports.

According to this research, the UK has also experienced a significant contraction in the variety of goods being exported to the EU, with an estimated loss of 42 per cent of product varieties.

This considerable contraction of the UK trade capacity, combined with an increased concentration of export values to fewer products, signifies some serious long-term concerns about the UK’s future exporting and productivity.

It is yet another example to add to the growing list that proves Brexit is one of the greatest acts of economic self-harm by a nation – and a perfect case of where turkeys have indeed voted for Christmas.

Alex Orr

Edinburgh

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Christian values

I agree that there is probably a larger number of abortions than any of us would like (rape and incest aside, as this is more than justified) – but it is the government that should hang its head in shame here.

As a civilised society, we should support single mothers and working mums both emotionally and financially to simply reduce the number. Jacob Rees-Mogg is quick to point out what doesn’t sit with his religious beliefs, but not what his Christian charity will do to support and help. This could be the reason for the sharp decline of Christianity in the UK.

People need real help and not a fairytale or a wish upon a star.

Venessa Cox

Address supplied