LEARNING that King Tupou VI of Tonga is among those heads of state attending the funeral of our late Queen on Monday, I recalled an abiding image from when, as a 12-year-old, I watched grainy black and white images of the Queen’s coronation on a tiny TV screen.

It is that of his grandmother, the majestic 6’ 3” Queen Salote Tupou III, who shared her horse-drawn carriage in the procession with the (compared with her) diminutive Sultan of Kelantan, refusing, despite the fact that it was pouring with rain, to allow attendants to put up the roof of the carriage (hers was the only one that wasn’t enclosed) so as not to disappoint the crowds who had waited many hours, some even days, to witness the spectacle.

I often ponder whether the Sultan was entirely happy with his fellow passenger’s decision...

ROBERT READMAN

Norwich Avenue West, Bournemouth