25 JANUARY 1997, Page 22

They did their best

Sir: Norman Stone remarks (Books, 18 Jan- uary) that nowadays it must often enough be downright tiresome to be royal: certainly this must be so when popular smears on the memory of one's forebears are constantly reiterated. According to William Clarke's meticulously researched book The Lost For- tune of the Tsars (Weidenfeld, 1994), George V and Queen Mary did their best to save the Tsar and his family in 1918 when the danger became apparent. In April 1919 the King sent a British warship to res- cue the Dowager Empress of Russia, and in 1922 he also sent a ship to rescue the Greek royal family (including Prince Philip).

Jennifer Miller

2 Heathview Gardens, London SW15