Noah Abrahams

On January 27, 2025, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day that marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, an impressive group of royal dignitaries participated in a commemoration event at the former Nazi extermination camp. These included the Crown Princess of Sweden and Crown Prince of Norway, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, the Kings of Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Belgium – and King Charles III of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other realms.

Joining Holocaust survivors, King Charles lit a candle to remember the murdered victims of the Holocaust and was taken to a reconstruction of the “Death Wall” where thousands of political prisoners were executed. Earlier during his day in Poland, he visited the Jewish Community Center Krakow, inaugurated in 2008.

Reflecting on his visit to Auschwitz, the first by a British Monarch, the King wrote in the visitors’ book: “Remembering what took place here and those who were so cruelly murdered is a duty; a sacred duty that must be protected. Being here today, hearing the stories of those who experienced its horrors, seeing the shoes of children whose lives were taken when they’d just began, and walking the paths upon which such cruelty was inflicted, is something I will never forget.”[1]

Charles’ words had a special meaning not just because he is one of the most recognized people in the world, but also because his visit came at a time when antisemitism raised its ugly head in the United Kingdom following the Hamas October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. In 2023, The Community Security Trust, the main voluntary Jewish organization in Britain for combating antisemitism, recorded 4,103 antisemitic incidents, including 273 of assault; of these, 1,389 were recorded in October alone. In 2024, 3,528 incidents were recorded, including 201 incidents of assault.[2] With Jews attacked in unprecedented numbers on the streets of England merely for being visibly identifiable as Jews, there was some comfort in knowing that the Monarch is committed to the remembrance of the Holocaust and its lessons – even if his voice was not strong and particular enough in condemning present-day manifestations of Jew-hatred.

Tragically, towards the end of the year, Charles III had another opportunity to demonstrate his commitment to the cause. On October 2, Yom Kippur, a 35-year-old British subject of Syrian origin, Jihad al-Shami, drove his car into pedestrians before stabbing worshippers at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Higher Crumpsall, a suburb of Manchester, the city with the second-largest Jewish population in England.

Two men were killed as a result of the terror attack, both Jewish: 53-year-old Adrian Daulby and 66-year-old Melvin Cravitz.

Al-Shami, who was shot by a policeman and died later of his wounds, was arrested earlier in the year on suspicion of alleged rape. One of the three wives he was married to told The Guardian that in the months before the attack, he was “glued to his phone” watching Arabic news channels, but did not appear to be on the path to terror.[3]

Eighteen days after the attack, the 76-year-old King, who is being treated for cancer, paid a visit to the Heaton Park synagogue on a rainy, cold day. With a blue kippah on his head, he described the attack as “a terrible shock” that “saddened the nation” and shared his “heartfelt condolences.” The surprise visit, an unusual gesture from a man whose schedule is set for months ahead, was a show of solidarity intended to send a clear message against antisemitism.

The King spoke with witnesses of the attack, asking them patiently and compassionately about the tragedy as well as about Jewish rituals. He gave the congregation a gift: a bottle of whiskey to enjoy during the Shabbat morning service. In return, he was presented with a framed print of the memorial event the synagogue held for the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Writing in Hamevaser, a Hebrew-language Israeli daily representing the small Hasidic courts in the country, Asher Klein offered an insider’s view of how the visit was seen by members of the community. Typical of the genre of accounts on royal visits, Klein depicted trivial gestures with pathos and pomp, showing that the ultra-Orthodox are no less vulnerable to the magic of royalty than other people are.

According to Klein, the King was greeted at the entrance of the synagogue by the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, and by Daniel Walker, the Chabad rabbi of the community since 2008. Together with other worshippers, Walker held the doors of the synagogue and stopped the attacker, who was wearing a fake suicide belt, from storming inside with his knife and killing more people.

The King was informed by Rabbi Walker about how the attack unfolded and how the congregation deals with the pain and concerns in its aftermath. Walking across the synagogue, he was introduced to Yehuda Marks, who has served as the congregation’s Chazan for 35 years. He asked Marks what the duties of a Chazan are and how one learns to become one. He also asked Marks where he stood when the attack occurred. Towards the end of his visit, the King appeared to admire the synagogue’s Holy Ark and then silently listened to the Chazan singing El Male Rachamim as the rain was pouring on the windows.[4]

Yoni Finlay, a member of the congregation who was wounded in the attack while barricading the doors of the synagogue, and who spoke with the King during the visit, told the Jewish Chronicle: “To see the King come and say how proud he was of the Jewish community is just really something, it’s just lovely to hear. And for the King to say that he’s here to help us in just a small way is just a bit mind-blowing and quite surreal really. The King is here in Manchester, at our community, walking up the steps coming into our synagogue, and talking to us […] to say he’s glad to help. It’s just surreal to me. And it’s not in a small way that he’s helping, believe me. It means a great deal.”[5]

King Charles’ commitment to the defense of minorities is not new. Already in 1993, the then Prince of Wales made clear that the religious freedom of Jews, and members of other minority faiths, would be as important for him as that of Anglicans. In an interview with Jonathan Dimbleby, he said that in a desire to reflect Britain’s religious diversity, he would be defender of faith rather than Defender of the Faith, the traditional title of the King in his capacity as head of the Anglican Church.

For a while, there were suggestions that the coronation oath might be altered. That did not happen. In 2015, in an interview with BBC Radio 2, Charles said he had been misinterpreted yet emphasized his commitment to religious pluralism as a part of British life, noting: “As I tried to describe, I mind about the inclusion of other people’s faiths and their freedom to worship in this country. And it’s always seemed to me that, while at the same time being Defender of the Faith, you can also be protector of faiths.”[6]

Making good on these words, in 2017, Charles was made patron of World Jewish Relief (WJR), the main Jewish overseas welfare charity, founded under a different name in 1933.

The King’s affection for Judaism and his participation in the fight against antisemitism have roots in his family. His paternal grandmother, Princess Alice (great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria and mother of Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II’s husband), wrote herself into Jewish history when she sheltered Jewish widow Rachel Cohen and her daughter in her Athens residence during Nazi Germany’s occupation of Greece in the early 1940s. On several occasions, the deaf Princess fooled suspecting Gestapo agents by pretending not to understand their questions about rumors that she was hiding Jews. She provided two trustworthy liaisons who helped Rachel Cohen maintain communication with the outside world, enabling her to discover that one of her sons had not managed to flee and his life was at grave risk. He, too, was given shelter on the third floor of the Princess’s home.

Yad Vashem recognized Princess Alice, posthumously, as a Righteous Among the Nations in 1993, and in 1994, Prince Philip travelled to Israel to honor his mother, who died in 1969 without possessions and was interred in 1988, finally in accordance with her will, in the Church of Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives. When the King visited Israel in 2016 to attend the funeral of former Prime Minister and President Shimon Peres, he paid his respects at his grandmother’s grave, too.

The King’s affectionate relationship with Judaism is also attributed to his personal biography. Like his father, he was a (often miserable) pupil at the Scottish Gordonstoun School, founded and shaped in the mold of Kurt Hahn, the anti-Hitlerian Berlin-born German-Jewish educator who fled to Scotland in 1933. Hahn sought to correct some of the damaging aspects of modernity, as he saw it, and based his schools’ philosophy and practices on adventurism, teamwork, tough reckoning with failures, a sense of duty to others, and the mixing of privileged pupils with non-privileged.

Particularly important was the King’s close relationship with Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991 to 2013. Sacks, born as the King was in 1948, is believed to have guided him on faith and moral-related matters. “[What made this friendship] wasn’t that Sacks was Jewish, but that he understood all aspects of religion, as indeed Charles does himself,” explained Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine, the primary publication for fans of the monarchy for more than four decades. “The King is a true believer in God and always held a deep respect for Sacks. When he [Sacks] died, Charles was profoundly upset.”[7]

Jews around the world have a historical debt of gratitude to the House of Windsor, the symbol of British heroic and lone resistance to Hitler at the most critical of all times, when the Continent was preyed upon by the Nazis and their allies, the Soviet Union collaborated with evil, and the United States insisted on staying on the sidelines. Yet it is not a coincidence that a reigning British Monarch is yet to visit Israel. The initial support Britain granted Zionism, which made its actualization possible, was later retracted, and following the establishment of the State of Israel, British governments opted for neutrality in the Arab-Israeli conflict, in part for fear of the wrath of the oil-rich states. Despite the profound impact Britain had on the development of Israeli society and institutions, the Jewish state was never a serious candidate to join the Commonwealth. Royal weddings and funerals attain massive viewership when broadcast on Israeli national networks, but other royal news is usually ignored by mainstream media.

King Charles visited Israel three times, all as Prince of Wales and not on official royal visits. The funeral of Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister assassinated by a Jewish militant three decades ago, was his first visit. Peres’ funeral in 2016 was his second, and in 2020, he came to attend the World Holocaust Forum marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

The latter was, in retrospect, an unfortunate event that did not accord with the values for which the King and Britain stand – or, for that matter, anyone who cares about democracy and loyalty to historical records. To date, the only member of the Royal family who has been to Israel on an official visit is Prince William in 2018. His charm and good manners did Britain’s image good, but also highlighted the decades-long snubbing of Israel by the Crown.

Policy Recommendations

  1. There cannot be a stronger statement against antisemitism than a first official visit of a British monarch to Israel. Such a visit by King Charles III will also reflect pride in Britain’s historical legacy at a time when it is needed. While it can also involve a visit to the Palestinian Authority and give voice to Britain’s critical approach to Israel’s current policies, an official visit will send a clear message that, for Britain and the Commonwealth, the right of the Jews to a national home is non-negotiable.
  2. While solidarity following deadly antisemitic attacks is appreciated, the real task of British society and government is to prevent such attacks from happening. The King, like the rest of Britain, should more profoundly reflect on a reality that preceded October 7, 2023. While all religious minorities are subject to expressions of bias and hate, only Jewish houses of prayer, community centers, and schools are forced to be subject to intensive security measures, which tragically cannot be hermetic, and which even when effective impose a sense of exceptionalism and fear.
  • Noah Abrahams, Associate Editor at the Center

[1] Joe Little, “Sacred Duty,” Majesty vol. 46, no. 3, 2025, p. 36.

[2] “Data: Antisemitic Incidents Worldwide 2024,” Antisemitism Worldwide Report for 2024 (Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and the Irwin Cotler Institute for Democracy, Justice and Human Rights, Tel Aviv University, April 2025), p. 18-19, https://cst.tau.ac.il/antisemitism-worldwide-report-for-2024/.

[3] Josh Halliday, “Wife of Synagogue Attacker Says He Showed No Signs of Extremism,” The Guardian, October 9, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/oct/09/wife-manchester-synagogue-terrorist-jihad-al-shamie-says-showed-no-signs-extremism.

[4] Asher Klein, “His Majesty the Emperor: The King in Manchester,” Hamevaser Kehilot Supplement, October 28, 2025, pp. 6-7.

[5] Daniel Ben-David, “King Lauds ‘Wonderful’ CST during Visit to Site of Manchester Synagogue Attack,”  Jewish Chronicle, October 20, 2025, https://www.thejc.com/news/uk/king-charles-visit-manchester-synagogue-attack-ygehfc2z.

[6] Harriet Sherwood, “King Charles to be Defender of the Faith but also a Defender of Faiths,” The Guardian, September 9, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/09/king-charles-to-be-defender-of-the-faith-but-also-a-defender-of-faiths.

[7] Interview by the author, October 23, 2025.