Sir, – Laura Slattery rightly says: "From a cringe-free Irish perspective, the reverence with which the BBC . . . treat even routine morale-boosting statements from Queen Elizabeth is as much a source of curiosity as it is a trigger for despair" ("In marking Prince Philip's death BBC didn't so much lose the plot as revert to ancient one", Media, April 12th).
However, for an expatriate English republican – like myself – everything about Britain’s royal family is at best anachronistic and at worst embarrassing.
Significantly, the BBC soon shut down its dedicated complaints page about the blanket and fawning coverage of Prince Philip’s death after a right-wing backlash, despite being bombarded with unprecedented numbers of dissatisfied messages from the public.
Maybe it is simply the fate of the UK’s many anti-monarchists to have to put up with being gas-lit by the BBC about our supposed love of all things royal; especially while there is a populist Conservative prime minister in Downing Street and a politically intimidated British national broadcaster. – Yours, etc,
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JOE McCARTHY,
Arbour Hill,
Dublin 7.