Time to end this right royal charade | Brief letters

The so-called Queen's speech | Animal-to-human transplants | Parliamentary seating | Dress sense | Teaspoon treat

If the Queen doesn't write her own speech and is no longer able to read it (Report, 9 May), isn't it time to stop the charade and call things by their accurate names? The prime minister disguises his autocratic powers under the royal prerogative. If it's his speech, let's say so and stop pretending the monarch has anything to do with it. We must sever the monarchy from the political system: a democratic imperative that is centuries overdue.
Nick Inman
Larreule, France

Xenotransplantation is a real killer", says your correspondent (Letters, 8 May). A bovine mitral valve transplant gave my mother another 12 years of playing a full and active role in her community, and I find it offensive that Peta would call this a vanity project".
Zelda Burrage
Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire