I welcome the request by the royal parks that non-compostable elements of floral tributes to the Queen be removed (People asked not to use Paddington toys or other non-floral tributes to Queen, 12 September). Given that 99.9% of these thousands of tributes will not be seen by the intended recipients, I wish the parks had urged those wishing to mark the event to instead donate the cost of the average floral tribute to a charity of their choice.
Phil Murray
Linlithgow, West Lothian
• There are many eloquent tributes from children in our book of condolences at St Bartholomew’s church, but I especially enjoyed this one: “I hope you will meet my cat Truffle in heaven, but she might make you sneeze.”
Iain Strath
Great Gransden, Cambridgeshire
• When Queen Elizabeth II acceded to the throne in 1952, the country was impoverished, with many going hungry and cold. Air pollution was wreaking havoc on people’s health and straining a fledgling NHS. The Tory administrations since 2010 have, remarkably, returned us to those days in time for the accession of King Charles III.
Tom Cusack
Cádiz, Spain
• I recently came across this quote from the French moralist La Rochefoucauld: “Funeral pomp is more for the vanity of the living than for the honour of the dead.”
Ray Newell
Sudbury, Suffolk
• How appropriate that Prince Andrew is to get the corgis . After all, he’s already in the doghouse.
Margaret Le Mare
Birmingham
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