Weeping for the war dead
From Major-General Julian Thompson
Sir: I am sorry that Rod Liddle ('Diana wins — from beyond the grave', 16 November) has to use the Queen's tears at a remembrance service as a vehicle for attacking the state of the nation, That Sunday in Whitehall some of those around me, who were there to remember their friends, were in the same condition — ex-marines, soldiers and sailors; not the weepy type. They were not shedding a tear for Diana, Princess of Wales, or to satisfy some Blairite PR person.
I am sure that the Queen's thoughts were of the young men and women of two world wars and numerous conflicts since who are commemorated by the Cenotaph. Her mother's favourite brother was killed in the first world war, her father served in one of the gun turrets of HMS Collingwood at the battle of Jutland, her husband spent most of the second world war at sea, including taking part in one of the hardest fought Malta convoys (Operation Pedestal), and her second son flew his helicopter as an Exocet decoy for the carrier Invincible in the Falklands war of 1982. She knows what is involved in conflict and feels no shame in shedding a tear for those who died. Liddle, not having been a soldier, plainly does not understand; or affects not to.
Julian Thompson
London WC2
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