Do Right and Fear No Man, Don't Write and Fear No Woman - wise words from a man who had, one suspects, been bitten at some point in his amorous career.

I doubt if it was a member of the Royal Family. Some of them seem to have put pen to paper on a number of occasions without a thought for the future of those valuable bits of household detritus from the royal wastepaper baskets.

There was a time, which some of the Third Age will remember clearly, when anything which occurred in any royal household would be treated as confidential and would never have been disclosed.

In these days of instant news even the most trivial piece of gossip is passed on to an eager press.

The Duke of Edinburgh, known for his ability to put his foot firmly in his mouth, does not appear to have read the words of wisdom which open this article.

The reports, if indeed they are a correct version of the contents of his notes about a member of the family who shall be nameless, were obviously not intended for public reading.

They would have benefited from immediate shredding, but an electric shredder does not appear to be part of the office equipment of the royals.

Not so in the case of the Spencer household. If reports are to be believed, they shredded confidential material without a backward glance, one presumes on the sensible basis that private correspondence should be just that.

It surely could not have escaped their notice that anything remotely linked to the Royal Family is almost as valuable as David Beckham's signature.

Most families will have secrets which they do not wish the world to share and most families also have a relative who suffers from a large mouth and a small brain.

The Queen has seldom put a foot wrong and must be despairing when she contemplates the damage done to her family after a wonderful Golden Jubilee year.

She has certainly done her best to 'do right and fear no man' but her immediate family seem to have forgotten the other half of the saying.

For 'don't write' also means don't email, telephone or use other means of communication which may be open to eavesdropping.

It was the media who wanted the Royals to be more accessible and their family life to be at the mercy of the public gaze. Having dug into every nook and cranny, they could not wait to tell all.

With regard to the Royals' public life there can be little argument that the country is entitled to expect high standards and a transparent view of their behaviour.

But in private it seems they can no longer rely on the discretion of some of those who work closely with them and should be the first line of defence.

The media wanted a Royal Family more like everyone else's. When they got one, they did not like what they saw.

Most of us would hate to have to do the mind-numbingly boring things the Royal Family has to, even given their wealthy lifestyle.

But it might be as well for some of them to take some lessons in discretion.

Most of our generation can remember when Edward VII was with Mrs Simpson and our press said not a word.

It came as a great surprise when the news of the King's intention to abdicate and marry the woman he loved became public. That may have been the defining moment when we discovered that the Royals were no different from us, but maybe we hoped that they were.