My six-year-old granddaughter has been solemnly informed that Guinea Pig Awareness Week has been postponed as a mark of respect. She is distraught and I cannot help but think that, as an animal lover, Her Majesty would not have approved. Perhaps a constitutional expert or someone close to the royals could prevail on the organisers to reconsider?
Bob Wells
London
• The minor, but long-awaited, heart procedure that I was due to have on Monday has been rescheduled to November. I can cope, but many others waiting in pain for surgery will find it hard to do so, and NHS waiting lists will lengthen. The Queen lived a long, healthy life, thanks to good genes, but also due to the instant medical care she received. No waiting weeks to see a GP or having procedures cancelled at short notice.
Barbara Richardson
London
• Many commercial premises have signs recognising that we are in public mourning. This has brought back memories of being in Strasbourg during the mourning period for Charles de Gaulle in November 1970. Most shop windows were empty save for a picture of the late general surrounded in black.
Dudley Coates
Gillingham, Dorset
• When I was a pupil at a grammar school in Derby, I declined the headmaster’s invitation to line the driveway when the then Princess Elizabeth visited. The result was detention and a five-mile walk home as the last bus had left. Then a republican, now a republican.
Dennis Ruston
Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire
• The third letter in this package was amended on 15 September 2022. The author lives in Gillingham, Dorset, not the place of the same name in Kent.
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