Through the challenge, change and chaos of the past 50 years, there has been one rock of stability - our Queen.

She has wealth and privilege but this is counterbalanced by duty.

She has had consultations with various Prime Ministers and, although apolitical, she must have gained a great deal of wisdom during her reign.

Cyril Wall says we were an overwhelmingly monarchist nation 50 years ago (Letters, February 3).

Our Queen was married just after the war, which cheered our nation, and the Silver Jubilee celebrations showed we appreciated all her work.

In Gambia, a small country in West Africa which was a British colony, I once saw the Queen's coronation picture pasted to the wall of a hut in a compound in the middle of the bush.

A waiter told me he cried when Princess Diana died and how Princess Anne had given him a coin which he has cherished ever since.

As a global power, we had many colonies and doubtless we did exploit the people but, in our multi-cultural society which is so enriching, the Queen blends in with all faiths, taking her shoes off in temples and covering her head in mosques.

The French and Russian revolutions and the downfall of the Shah of Persia came about because people were living in terrible poverty while their rulers lived in luxury. While I do not agree with the blood sports the Royal Family pursue nor their enormous wealth, I still say "God save the Queen".

Perhaps my Republican friends would prefer George W Bush as our president. I rest my case!

-Carole Irvine, Saltdean