Tearful King Charles breaks down as he makes history at emotional Auschwitz ceremony

King Charles has become the first British head of state to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau today after attending a poignant ceremony at the former Nazi concentration camp to mark the 80th anniversary of its liberation

A moved King Charles has made history by becoming the first British monarch to visit Auschwitz for an emotional ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of its liberation.

Charles has headed to Poland to commemorate the milestone with foreign monarchs, presidents, prime ministers and Holocaust survivors invited to a service at the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum and memorial. More than a million people, mostly Jews but also Poles, Soviet prisoners of war and other nationalities, were murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz-Birkenau during the Second World War as part of the Holocaust in which six million Jewish men, women and children were killed.

During the ceremony today, the King looked emotional and appeared to wipe away a tear has he listened to Auschwitz survivors poignantly recall their stories of surviving the Nazi death camp. He sat alongside other moved royals, including the King Frederik of Denmark as well as Queen Mathilde of Belgium.

The ceremony is being held in front of the infamous gates of the former Nazi concentration camp which had the words Arbeit Macht Frei – “work sets you free” – above it. Auschwitz survivors are addressing the invited guests who include France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Ukraine’s Vlodymyr Zelenskyy, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands and Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia.

After the ceremony Charles will walk through the gates to view personal items confiscated from victims when they entered the camp and lay a wreath at a reconstruction of the Death Wall, the site where several thousand people, mainly Polish political prisoners, were executed.

Earlier today Charles visited the heart of Krakow’s Jewish community as commemorations began. He told those gathered at the Jewish Community Centre (JCC) that remembering the “evils of the past remains a vital task”, and knowledge should be used to inspire people to “build a kinder and more compassionate world”.

He told the guests to be in Poland to mark 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz was “sombre and indeed a sacred moment”. He went on to say: “It is a moment when we recall the depths to which humanity can sink when evil is allowed to flourish, ignored for too long by the world.

“And it is a moment when we recall the powerful testimonies of survivors such as Lily Ebert, who so sadly passed away in October, and who collectively taught us to cherish our freedom, to challenge prejudice and never to be a bystander in the face of violence and hate.”

He added those lessons could not be more important in a world that has seen the “dangerous re-emergence of antisemitism” and remains “full of turmoil and strife”.

The King said: “As the number of Holocaust survivors regrettably diminishes with the passage of time, the responsibility of remembrance rests far heavier on our shoulders, and on those of generations yet unborn. The act of remembering the evils of the past remains a vital task and in so doing, we inform our present and shape our future.”

Meanwhile, back in the UK, the Princess of Wales will make a last-minute appearance alongside husband Prince William today as he leads the nation in commemorations for Holocaust Memorial Day.

William will give a reading at a special service in London attended by survivors and guests from around the world who have spent their lives fighting extremism. The event will be the princess’ first official outing since she revealed she was in remission from cancer just under two weeks ago.

In 2020, the Waleses when they were styled the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, joined Holocaust survivors at Westminster’s Central Hall to mark the 75 year anniversary. During the poignant commemorative ceremony, William read an extract from a letter written by a friend of his great-grandmother, Princess Alice, which described her efforts to save Jews in Athens.

At the same time Kate published photographs of Holocaust survivors in a contribution to an exhibition marking 75 years since the end of the genocide. At the time she said her subjects were “two of the most life-affirming people that I have had the privilege to meet”.