27 JUNE 1998, Page 23

Gin and Horlicks

Sir: Regarding Claudia FitzHerbert's review of a recent 'Diana' book (Books, 20 June), the injustice of Julie Burchill's attacks on the royal family is more obvious than her calumny of the late Ruth, Lady Fermoy, who in fact repeatedly warned her granddaughter Diana that the royal lifestyle would not suit her (Andrew Morton's Diana: Her True Story — in Her Own Words, page 36). It was not until after the marriage of her daughter Frances to the future Earl Spencer in 1954 and the death of her own husband in 1955 that Lady Fermoy became a Woman of the Queen Mother's Bed- chamber in 1956. Nightmarish plottings laced with gin and Horlicks conjured up by Miss Burchill must therefore vanish into thin air.

Jennifer Miller

2 Heathview Gardens, London SW15