Create a visual class based on the OLEControl object type and select the Microsoft RichText Control. Save the visual class. Then in code:

LOCAL lcMyRTFText, loRTF
lcMyRTFText = FILETOSTR("RTFFile.rtf")
loRTF = NEWOBJECT("RTFObject","RTFClass.vcx")
loRTF.TextRTF = lcMyRTFText
lcText = loRTF.Text
loRTF = .NULL.

The first line reads the RTF file into a string variable. The second line creates an instance of the class in memory. The third line assigns the RTF formatted text to the control. The fourth line extracts the text as plain text. Then last is to release the object from memory.