Royal virtues
Sir: The royal family is not mediagenic. The Queen watched the passage of Princess Diana's coffin last Saturday with a face ric- tal with confusion and constraint. The Prince of Wales continues to apply himself to causes which take more than three sec- onds of soundbite to do themselves justice. Yet for all its trappings and out-of-date rit- uals, the royal family has comported itself with a sense of discipline and duty which is almost de trop in modern times.
Diana, on the other hand, was a star from a different constellation. Always good to look at, though light on substance, she has managed to bring herself forward to the point of canonisation by riding on the back of the two institutions she feigned to abhor: the monarchy and the media.
With all those flowers and all those peo- ple, I ask myself, is there nobody out there who prefers the doughty to the disingenu- ous?
Sarah Key
Double Bay, Sydney, Australia
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