Prince Charles
Photo: AP
Prince Charles to attend Israel's 70th celebrations in the UK
Month before Prince William embarks on historic journey to Israel, Royal Family's heir to the throne to participate in event which will be attended by Israeli representatives and famous music artists.
Prince Charles will attend a birthday celebration on Thursday marking Israel's 70th anniversary at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
The arrival of the heir apparent to the British throne will come a month before the scheduled historic visit to Israel by his son, Prince William, whose trip will be the first ever political visit by any member of the Royal Family.
The arrival of the Prince of Wales at an Israeli event is a rare occurrence. While in the past he has taken part in Jewish community events in the United Kingdom relating in the main to Holocaust Memorial Day, the Royal Family has generally refrained from participating in Israel-related events.
The event—which is hosted by the Jewish Leadership Council, UJIA and Israel Bonds—will feature a host of Israeli artists, among them the Israeli modern dance company Vertigo, the popular Balkan Beat Box band, and the band A-WA, along with other artists.
Prince Charles (second from left) at Prince Harry's wedding (Photo: MCT)
The arrival of the heir apparent to the British throne will come a month before the scheduled historic visit to Israel by his son, Prince William, whose trip will be the first ever political visit by any member of the Royal Family.
The visit by the second in line to the throne “is at the request of Her Majesty’s government and has been welcomed by the Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian authorities,” the palace said in a statement.
Charles has visited Israel in the past, but not on a political mission and his whirlwind stays have been restricted to attending the funerals of Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres.
During the celebrations in the UK, Charles will sit in a royal box next to the Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky.
Prince Harry (L) and Prince William (Photo: Getty Images)
Other guests of honor and dignitaries will include Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and Israel’s Ambassador to the UK Mark Regev.
At the end of last year, Prince Charles came under attack following revelations that he penned a letter advocating for the US administration to “take on the Jewish lobby” and attributing unrest in the Middle East to “the influx of foreign Jews,” according to reports first published in The Mail on Sunday.
In the letter written to a close friend, Laurens van der Post in 1986, the prince highlights the exodus of European Jewry over the course of the 20th century as a phenomenon that "helped to cause the great problems."
