Lynn Daly raises some important issues in her column headed "Charles not fit to defend the faith" (The Argus, February 15).

Firstly in her comments on "an over-extended royal family". Royal families in such countries as Holland and Norway are much smaller than our own and they are widely respected. The Royal family should be restricted to the children and grandchildren of the monarch. There should not be a whole crowd of cousins remotely connected to the line of succession. Hereditary peerage is also an anachronism which should be totally abolished.

Secondly, why should Prince Charles be forced by birth to be the supreme governor of the Church of England? His own personal inclination is to be Defender of Faiths, not Defender of the Faith. He should be free to marry who he wishes and belong to the religion of his free choice. After all, when he crosses the Anglo Scottish border, he becomes a Presbyterian, a denomination quite different to Anglicanism in its ethos and church government.

It is only fair to say that the Anglican church takes very seriously its duty to uphold the sanctity and permanence of marriage.

In cases of Church marriage blessing, the service, in many Anglican churches, involves a public confession and assurance of forgiveness, both from God through his word the Bible, and also from previously wronged parties.

Christians seriously and sincerely pray for Charles and Camilla that they, with all of us, will be truly repentant for past sins and, with God's help, desire to live a new life following His Commandments.

-Rev John Webster, Hove