At the World Jewish Relief’s annual dinner in the Guildhall last night, heir to the throne Prince Charles spoke out about how his grandmother took in a Jewish family during the Holocaust in the Second World War. He told the crowd of hundreds at the dinner that his grandmother's legacy influenced his philanthropic work and tolerance of people of all religions. During his speech, Charles cautioned that the lessons we learned from the Holocaust are in “increasing danger” of being forgotten. He compared the Holocaust to a number of problematic goings-on in the world today.
Prince Charles’ impassioned speech inspired the guests
Prince Charles said in his speech that the work being done by his hosts the World Jewish Relief is creating conditions for people from all walks of life “to rally together" in order to work towards supporting people "practically, emotionally, and spiritually." This speech was spurred on by his fears that the "horrific lessons" that should have been learned from World War II are "in increasing danger" of losing the memory of it, as the impact diminishes more and more as it becomes ever more distant in the past. Many guests in the room saw this is a veiled critique of President Donald Trump, whom many are comparing to genocidal war criminal Adolf Hitler.
Other topics Prince Charles covered in his speech were the Jews living in poverty in Ukraine, the Syrian refugee crisis, and the situation in Rwanda. He uses these as modern-day comparisons to the Holocaust to tell us that we’re forgetting the lessons we should’ve learned. He says that "reaching beyond your own community" is one of the most important things you can do in order to strive towards "true compassion and friendship" worldwide.
Charles wants to be a ‘defender of faith’
Prince Charles argued that Religion “empowers” us as a society, rather than limits us, it’s just that we’re currently looking at it the wrong way and it’s leading to conflict. He told the story of his family’s relationship with the Jewish community, as his grandmother Princess Alice sheltered a Jewish family during the Second World War. This came as a touching and refreshing personal note.
