The monarch is the jewel in the crown of the British constitution - Yorkshire Post Letters

Daxa Patel's tribute to Queen Elizabeth, and expressions of respect for King Charles, was well judged (September 15).

Her Majesty was, indeed, the personification of values that are (or ought to be) immutable: honour, duty and service to the nation, at home and abroad.

Whilst political leaders faltered, Her Majesty, as our head of state, was constant in upholding those traditional values; and always in a reassuringly calm and dignified manner.

And, in so doing, she commanded respect and admiration not only in the United Kingdom but throughout the countries of the Commonwealth and, indeed, the wider world.

And whilst the unbecoming conduct of certain other heads of state brought their countries into disrepute, Her Majesty's reign was both long and illustrious.

The monarch is the jewel in the crown of the British constitution, which serves as the ultimate check on unconstitutional government: all parliamentary bills must have royal assent before they pass into law.

The concept of a constitutional monarch is not something that would have been conceived by a focus group, or drawn up in a blueprint by some committee of inquiry. It is far more subtle than that: it is consequent to our history and has evolved through the centuries, from the High Kings of Britain and concepts of the divine right of Kings, to the Glorious Revolution and Bill of Rights, to the present day where, during the coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey, the newly crowned monarch swears an oath, before God, of allegiance and service: to reign only to serve.

The unique and precious nature of the British constitutional monarchy is something that anti-monarchists so signally fail to comprehend.

One can only hope that a more enlightened view will ultimately prevail over the cross-fertilisation of ignorance which is now so prevalent on so-called ‘social media’.