Many will be baffled by the claim that the Queen has served us for 50 years (Letters, March 22). The reality is just the opposite.

The people of Britain, as well as the Commonwealth, have been serving the entire Royal Family since the Queen's forebears quit their German homeland and established themselves as the rulers of this country.

The price has been high, not only in terms of money but through the ridicule our acceptance of the rank of mere subjects rightly earns us from our Continental neighbours.

The class hierarchy created by the monarchy and its hangers-on has also blighted the lives and careers of countless talented Britons through the attitude who you know is more important than what you know.

To abolish the monarchy would mean a new lease of life for Britain - a welcome leap out of the 19th Century into the real, modern world.

Dennis Stuart

-Marine Parade, Brighton