SIR – ‘Those who live in glass houses ought not to throw stones’ is an old adage apparently forgotten by the Prince of Wales when comparing Russia’s action in reclaiming the Crimea from Ukraine to those of Adolf Hitler in World War Two.

The irony being that although the world recalls six million Jews perishing in the Nazi holocaust, it routinely forgets the 26 million Russians who also died, many of them civilians including, I believe, President Putin’s elder brother Viktor, one of many babies who died of cold and hunger then.

In fact without their stoicism at Stalingrad etc, the outcome of World War Two could have been very different, with this country also conquered and our monarchy eliminated before Charles was even born.

Also, most of the wealth of our Royalty and aristocracy was acquired via similar very dubious methods right back to William and Conqueror, plus port cities of Bristol and Liverpool being based on exploitation of human slavery.

The former British Empire was not created by giving the indigenous population of those far-off places bunches of flowers either but instead bullets and bayonets with a whip across the back and/or a rope round the neck of any who objected.

Those in privileged positions like Charles and his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, often make comments which are easily laughed off, but in this case the memories of the suffering of World War Two by Russia are all too recent for a joke to be made of them.

D S Boyes, Upper Rodley Lane, Leeds