ONE of the reasons why the Queen is uniformly respected is her discretion.

She never makes political statements and maintains a strict neutrality on all matters.

I would suggest that Harry and Meghan could learn a lot from her.

In their desire to be more "modern", they appear to have set their minds on taking stances on a wide range of "woke" matters, some of which stray into the political field.

In a democracy, people do not have to kowtow to monarchy and, if the monarchy makes statements with which they disagree, they are at liberty to criticise such statements.

Arun Arora (Echo, Jan 15) rather simplistically sees the press criticism of Meghan through the prism of racism – Meghan is mixed race ergo to criticise her must be racism.

A free press is a vital component of a democracy, any attempt to constrain it by any means must be resisted.

If Meghan or Harry, or even Boris or Jeremy, talk rubbish I sincerely hope that The Northern Echo and other journals will not pull their punches.

Martin Walker, Durham.