At around the same time as I was blogging about guardian angels last week, Lord Nicholas Windsor, son of the Duke of Kent, who is a first cousin of the Queen and has the title of a royal dukedom, had published an article in the Daily Telegraph entitled: “The world doesn’t have a right to abortion.” My blog seems very frivolous in comparison to this article. After all, if you raise the subject of angels at a non-believing dinner party, the topic will be thought of as "quaint" and you might be considered a bit dotty. However, if you raise the subject of abortion at the same dinner party you will bring the polite chat to a total standstill; you will have committed a grave breach of the unwritten social code and the ensuing silence will be full of anger, hostility, guilt, confusion and embarrassment. Angels are an "easy" topic; abortion isn’t and Lord Nicholas is braver than I am. His opening paragraph goes, “If I were to imagine the voice of a rather sensible relative, or just a concerned bystander, addressing me on the subject of abortion, the words I hear them using go something like the following: “Why on earth get yourself mixed up in/wade into a matter like this?” (Aside) “And isn’t it rather distasteful?” Lord Nicholas is too diplomatic and charitable to name those of his relatives who would be scandalised by his breach of good manners, but coming as he does from the heart of the British Establishment, it is not hard to guess that the Royal Family regards him as "not quite PLU" (People Like Us). Indeed he isn’t. The first member of the Royal Family to become a Catholic since Charles II (who converted on his deathbed), he gave up his right of succession to the throne on his conversion. Except for those directly in line, this "right" is entirely notional. Nonetheless it matters to some people in court circles: the Princess Royal’s daughter-in-law, the wife of her son, Peter, renounced her own Catholic faith on marrying him so that his own "right of succession" would remain secure. That was a great pity. Setting an example in public life matters more than we think, and Lord Nicholas has set a fine example both to fellow royals and fellow Catholics. His article in the Telegraph reminds one how almost everyone used to regard the question of abortion: