IF PAUL Costello’s allegations that the Duchess of Cornwall was responsible for deleting Tony Blair and Gordon Brown from the guest list of her step-son’s marriage (Letters, May 7), the respect I had started to feel for her has gone out of the window.

If this is the case, it would be for plain spite. Remember her chief leisure activity was fox hunting, also a useful cover for her affair with the Prince of Wales. An activity ended with the passing of the Hunting With Dogs Act under the Labour Government.

I and many others regard the lack of invitation as a slap in the face to democracy: Tony Blair was voted in with the greatest majority of any prime minister. There is also a degree of ingratitude, as he saved the royal family’s bacon after the death of the Diana. In addition, the Queen’s visit to Ireland would not have been possible if Tony Blair had not brought off the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement. As to Gordon Brown, does Mr Costello not remember the panic-stricken savers queuing outside The Northern Rock? Without Gordon’s intervention in the banking crisis, which has been acknowledged by most foreign governments as prescient and far sighted, many ordinary people would have lost their homes and savings.

Mrs K Mullen, St Monica’s Close, Easingwold.