Sir, - You report (September 1st) that only three non-royals have been granted full state funerals in Britain - Wellington, Gladstone and Churchill. Not so. Pitt the Elder in 1778, Nelson in 1806, Pitt the Younger, also in 1806, and Lord Roberts (the Boer War general) in 1914 were given state funerals too.
No doubt the British authorities have their reasons for not granting Diana Princess of Wales one, but it would have been an inspirational departure from the list just mentioned, which is all-male and predominantly of warriors or war leaders. I do not say they would all have condoned land-mines, though I think it quite likely in one or two cases. Diana, however, not only led the way in opposing land-mines but was a woman - dazzlingly so. To have given her a state funeral would have gone some way to redressing the impression that only war lords, not peace princesses, are eligible. - Yours, etc.,
Ballaghmore Castle, Borris-in-Ossory, Co Laois.