5 OCTOBER 1951, Page 23

The Mystique of Kingship

SIR,—In an otherwise admirable note in your issue of September 28th you refer to the mystique of kingship as something "which few foreigners can understand• and which often perplexes Englishmen them- selves." I would suggest, on the contrary, that it is just as well under- stood in Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden as it is here. In addition, the older generation in many other countries, now republics, remember monarchies which, if not perhaps as constitutional as our own or those of the Low Countries and Scandinavia, may at least be regarded with some affection and would in many cases be gladly seen

restored. Nor is there much, if any, perplexity about the matter in