In defence of a Lady
Sir: Re Mr Haslam's agitated little piece (Arts, 3 July) on the Queen Elizabeth memorial gates: isn't it rather base, while skirting so deferentially round the question of whose taste is ultimately responsible for this fifth-rate whimsy, to resort to the now conventional swipe at the former Lady Spencer, who had nothing to do with it? The lady's taste in clothes, whatever else, is not at all Windsorish Hartnell, and her hospitality and patronage were clearly far too good for all those 'designers' and pas- ticheurs who now so routinely and imperti- nently abuse her. It may be worth pointing out, en passant, that it was not the former Lady Spencer who 'lost' Spencer House and many of its contents (national treasures) to rich Ameri- cans and others, but a previous Earl Spencer in need or in greed of funds. And that when that noblest of houses — much superior to Althorp — was eventually saved from neglect and devastation by the munifi- cence of a Rothschild, not many connois- seurs and know-alls objected to the (totally appropriate) glitter and gold of the restora- tion.
Count Vladimir Caruana
Tudor Place, Tiddington Road, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
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