Madam, - From the admittedly somewhat jaundiced viewpoint of a constitutional republican on the latest unfortunate episode involving the British royal family - i.e. what the butler saw and told - it is becoming increasingly apparent to many observers that the anachronistic dependence of the monarchy on a servile class to meet its every material need may hold within it the seeds of its own demise.
If royalty insists that paid, but these days increasingly vocal, servants are on hand to prepare their personal baths, serve their food and otherwise meet their most intimate needs, it should not be a matter of great surprise to anyone that the royal secrets, and the dirty washing which inevitably accompanies them, should come tumbling out eventually into the public arena.
The contemporary continental model of constitutional monarchy, based as it is on a relatively more modest and self-sufficient standard of living devoid of over-reliance on servility, may offer some salient lessons for the British royal family's public relevance and future survival. - Yours, etc.,
MARK HOGAN,
Donaghmede,
Dublin 13.