Dear Sir,

Your article of Tuesday October 25th (“Blair helped Gaddafi get royal seal of approval”) about correspondence between The Prince of Wales and Colonel Gadaffi failed to sufficiently highlight that the primary purpose of His Royal Highness’s letter was to secure the release of Palestinian and Bulgarian medics who were being held, and reportedly tortured, in Libya. The desperate plight of these individuals was widely reported, including by your newspaper, at the time. The Prince of Wales agreed, discreetly, to join international efforts to plead for clemency and secure the medics’ release. Barely six weeks after His Royal Highness’s letter was delivered by the British Ambassador in Tripoli the medics were safely on their way home.

Paddy Harverson, Communications Secretary to The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall