Public trust depends on rigorous oversight of how taxpayer money is spent. When publicly funded institutions allow office holders to charge personal services to expenses, it raises serious questions about accountability and public office. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor charging his massage services on expenses while a trade envoy is utterly shocking (Report, 23 February).
Clear rules, full transparency and repayment, plus punishments for malfeasance where costs fall outside the public interest, are essential to maintaining any basic minimum of confidence in the working of the state. Taxpayers should not bear the burden of private benefits, and institutions that rely on public funding should lead by example in rectifying and calling back questionable expenditures.
So how much will the crown estate reimburse the British taxpaying public for this abuse of the public purse?
Dan Owen
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
• The royal family is a slap in the face to every hardworking family struggling to make ends meet. It’s time to abolish the monarchy, impose a major wealth tax on their personal fortunes, sell the estates and put the money to good use. Reparations for Indigenous people in the former colonies would be a good start.
Katheryne Schulz
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• To paraphrase Martin Luther King’s famous phrase in his “I have a dream” speech, judge not the Windsors by the colour of their blood but by the content of their character.
Bernard Harper
South Kirkby, West Yorkshire
