ONCE again we are subjected to a tirade about the Royals coming from left-wing extremists.

I am not a subservant Royalist by any means, but we have to look at the past.

The Russian royal family was murdered by the Bolsheviks and Russia was ruled by Stalin for years. He killed millions of his own people. The German invasion of 1941 nearly succeeded because he had killed many experienced army officers; also he murdered 70,000 Polish officers and intellectuals.

The Kaiser in Germany was exiled and Hitler became chancellor, and we all know what he did.

The Spanish king was excluded by the communist government. Franco became dictator after ousting the communists.

In England people wanted Charles II back after Cromwell. Their instincts were right. The Royals have, as heads of state, been good for the country, not interfering in politics and becoming celebrities. People here like celebrities, they pour out to see them or watch them on television. Remember Princess Diana.

Let us not give up a thing which works well, even if there are some doubts about class and aristocracy. These things are receding anyway, and they do not have the power they once had by any stretch of imagination. So can we now forget replacing these people for a Saddam Hussein or Mugabe or Napoleon, or many others that could be mentioned?

R Locker, Walney Road, Heworth, York.