Sir, - It is not true that Hotel Ritz "had sent no official representative" to the funeral of Mr Henri Paul, who drove the car in which Diana, Princess of Wales and Mr Dodi Fayed met their deaths, Mr Frank Klein, the president of L'Hotel Ritz, represented the management and the owner, Mr Mohamed Al Fayed. Mr Claude Roulet, Mr Klein's deputy, also represented the management of the hotel. Mr Paul's immediate boss, Mr Jean Hocquet, the head of security, also attended to represent the hotel together with 15 members of staff. They travelled to Lorient in Brittany in a coach provided and paid for by L'Hotel Ritz.
It is unnecessarily cruel to publish a story like "Lorient defends the memory of its native son" (The Irish Times, September 22nd) which adds anguish to the grief that is being endured by Mr Al Fayed, his family and his colleagues, who have suffered enough from recent events. - Yours, etc., Michael Cole, Director Public Affairs, Harrods Ltd,
Knightsbridge,
London.
Lara Marlowe, Paris Correspondent, adds: Members of the Ritz staff told me as they were leaving the church after the funeral that the hotel had sent no official representative. In my report from Lorient, I also quoted a spokesman for Mr Al-Fayed (Mr Cole himself) as saying that Messrs Klein and Roulet were among the 200 mourners. It is surprising that the Ritz employees did not see their own management in the little church.